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The US State Department announced that all U.S. passports issued after October 2006 will have embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) chips that carry the holder's personal data and digital photo.
The department will begin the program in December 2005 with a pilot, issuing these passports to U.S. Government employees who use Official or Diplomatic passports for government travel. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency, has developed international specifications for electronic passports meant to keep information such as name, nationality, sex, date of birth, place of birth and digitized photograph of the passport holder secure. The United Kingdom and Germany also have announced similar plans.
