Wednesday, May 17, 2006 | 7:31 a.m.
It has been four years since the Homeland Security Department decided that transportation workers should be issued new identification cards, ones made with the latest in "smart card" technology.
The technology, involving electronic matching of fingerprints, was available at the time. So was congressional approval. And funding. Yet the cards will not be produced until at least sometime next year.
Not only has there been this huge delay, resulting in continued vulnerability at airports, railroads and ports, but many extra millions of dollars have been wasted since the plan was announced in 2002.
In an in-depth article published Sunday, The New York Times exposed the main reason behind the blockage - efforts by a powerful Republican congressman from Kentucky to locate the cards' production facility in his state and to award associated contracts to businesses that have plied him with campaign donations.
The congressman is Rep. Harold Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. The story behind his meddling began in the 1990s, when the Clinton administration, according to the Times story, needed Rogers' support in getting funding to produce a secure green card for permanent legal immigrants. The administration won Rogers' approval only after it agreed to locate the manufacturing plant for the new cards in the small town of Corbin, Ky.
Fast forward to post-9/11 America. Homeland Security officials found themselves stifled by Rogers in their quest for a much more secure card for transportation workers. Using his position, Rogers inserted language into appropriation bills, effectively mandating that they be produced in Corbin using the old technology available at the Corbin plant. This resulted in long delays and a $4 million needless study to "prove" that the newer, "smart card" technology was far superior.
Owing to pressure from competitors in the high-tech ID card business and congressional watchdogs, Homeland Security and Rogers have now reversed mandates about what technology is used and who gets the work. Corbin, however, remains the probable location.
It is understandable when members of Congress aggressively pursue contracts for their state. But it is wrong when they consciously exclude competition to reward contractors who have supported them with campaign money and gifts. And it is vile beyond description when such behavior delays initiatives to protect national security.
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