Outsourced passports netting govt. profits, risking national security
This is the first in a three-part series on the outsourcing of passports. The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to overseas companies — including one in Thailand that was victimized by Chinese espionage — raising concerns that cost savings are being put ahead of national security, an investigation by The Washington Times has found. Bert V. Goulait/The Washington Times Public Printer Robert Tapella, the Government Printing Office’s top executive, told a House subcommittee on March 6 that increased demand for U.S. passports produced “accelerated revenue recognition,” and “not necessarily excess profits.” The Government Printing Office’s decision to export the work has proved lucrative, allowing the agency to book more than $100 million in recent profits by charging the State Department more money for blank passports than it actually costs to make them, according to interviews with federal officials and documents obtained by The Times.
