Will biometric passports limit the reach of Israel's intelligence?
Opponents of establishing a biometric database fear that it will adversely affect Israel's intelligence agents.
By Jonathan Lis Tags: Israel Mossad Israel newsThe affair of the forged foreign passports used by the hit team in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh has raised difficult questions regarding the expected implementation of a biometric passport system in Israel.
Opponents of the database's establishment fear, among other things, that it might affect Israel's ability to run intelligence agents abroad. Thus, for example, the opponents say if protected biometric information leaks to foreign countries, no wigs, disguises or even surgery to change identities will help. Every Israeli agent who gives his fingerprint at a biometric border control station is liable to be in danger of exposure.
The fear among opponents to the law is not unfounded: A similar database, containing the identity details of Israeli citizens, was leaked a few years ago from the Interior Ministry and can be download today, for free.
Establishing the biometric database in Israel is expected to take several years. This is because, as part of a compromise, it was decided that in the next two years citizens of the country will be able to give the biometric information - fingerprints and a facial photograph - and receive in return biometric passports or "smart" identity cards.
Only in two years' time, if it emerges that the database is properly protected, will the interior minister, with the Knesset's approval, be able to transform the database into statutory law and gather the details about all the country's citizens.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) is expected to issue a number of regulations to prevent leakage of the database and enable significant protection of the sensitive information. Thus, for example, each kind of information will be held in a separate database and cross-checking the information will be possible only with special permission. Routine use of the database will be forbidden, and each case will be approved individually by the prime minister.
Former Mossad man and Knesset member Rafi Eitan spoke on Wednesday about the need for the professionals in Israel's intelligence system to adapt their activities to the advanced technological reality. "By 2015 most countries will have moved over to biometric identification methods, which are more thorough methods for checking a person's identity," he told Haaretz.
However, according to Eitan, "This will not affect the various intelligence activities in the future, because I assess that the organizations engaging in this will find suitable ways to overcome the difficulties - should there be any.
I am fairly certain that someone is thinking about this. I also think about this from time to time, but I don't want to give our enemies any ideas. In principle, when there is a war on terror you conduct it without principles. You simply fight it."
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Intelligence agencies have copies of original passports, they have all kinds of experts with a wide range of facilities so biometrics are not going to make passport forging impossible. Biometrics might be a problem for organized crime who have the money but still limited recources Intelligence agencies don't have that problem they have the facillities and experts to get around anything, there is no such thing as something thats totally secure. Israeli agents will continue to travel into England, the US, arab states and just about every country they want to get into using a forged passport even if they do start using biometrics.
Hey Jonathan you couldve saved yourself some time writing this article by watching any of my movies, we are way ahead of biometric passports James Bond
There are plenty of other Mordechai Vannus out there, motivated by Leftist Hypocrisy, Socialism, Islam or Closet Pan-Arabism. Any database that has to be accessible, for use, will inevitably be misused. This is a warranted concern, but nothing that MOSSAD can not overcome. They can surely purge the database as needed and recruit outside the database, to hunt terrorists as necessary. I would be more concerned about the growing international power of INTERPOL and any databases they are likely to create, under the approving gaze of America's new Mugabe. After all, INTERPOL was once before, taken over by the SS and its current management has more than a few shared ambitions.
?? Forging of passports continues to be an easy task despite the introduction of biometric passports. People have yet to realise that the use by foreign immigration authorities of the biometric information contained in the passport is optional and restricted to certain points of control. I doubt Dubai hotels conduct any sort of biometric matching of guests during check-in; as such, changing identities while "in-transit" would be an easy task. That said, having biometric data embedded on Israeli passports is absolutely irrelevant to our intelligence operations. Do you really expect Israeli spies to use their own passports while abroad? Imagine an Israeli spy pretending to be a businessman landing in Saudi Arabia... On the other hand, as more and more countries adopt the features, the harder will get to use THEIR passports. Haaretz used to be a better newspaper.