The head of the U.S. Homeland Security Department's visitor tracking program on Tuesday called for the creation of a "global ID management system" to make travel easier while enhancing security.

New high-tech passports may never provide the hoped-for level of protection against terrorists because the key technology - facial recognition - requires technologies that even proponents say are difficult to implement and not yet reliable.

Bruce Schneier counters the arguments that mandatory identification cards would help identify terrorists.

Responding to the threat of terrorism, the federal government is taking steps to establish a more reliable nationwide identification system, despite protests from some that privacy and civil liberties are threatened.

With the nation's nerves still raw from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, some federal and state authorities are hoping the public is primed to accept a national identification card. But the public's willingness to trade some privacy for the promise of increased security seems to be slipping.

Amitai Etzioni examines the effectiveness of proposed national ID measures for combatting terrorism.

Experts are warning that the real technological challenge behind a national identification system isn't the flashy iris scanning, face recognizing or fingerprinting on the front end, its the database. The best biometric technology is of little use without a central database and those vast databases are notoriously mistake-prone, difficult to secure, open to abuse, and expensive to compile and operate.

U.S. State motor vehicle authorities are working on a plan to create a national identification system for individuals that would link all driver databases and employ high-tech cards with a fingerprint, computer chip or other unique identifier.

Broaching a controversial subject that has gained visibility since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison is calling for the United States to create a national identification card system -- and offering to donate the software to make it possible.

The U.S. is providing funding to a small company that is trying to build a national database of driver's license photographs. Congressional leaders who helped make those arrangements envisioned using the photo file to combat terrorism, immigration abuses and other identity crimes -- applications that appear to go beyond recent company claims the database would only be used to prevent check and credit card fraud.