As I drove through the Torpedo Gate onto the Seaplane Base this week, my military identification card was scanned for the first time. I remarked on this to the police officer who was manning the gate, who congratulated me, waited for my scan to come back positive (for lack of a better description) and then sent me merrily on my way.
I think I’ve watched too many science fiction movies with my husband, because as I waited for the results of the scan, I got a little nervous. What if there was something wrong with my perfectly good, legal and valid ID card? What if there was a glitch in the system and they wouldn’t let me on base? What sort of chaos would erupt at home if I couldn’t do the grocery shopping? I felt like a character in one of those aforementioned sci-fi movies who waits for the results of a scan to tell them whether they are infected with a deadly virus and will be quarantined, or whether they will be pronounced healthy (or human?) and be allowed to continue their journey.
My friend Debbie, who recently had to make several passes through the gate in one day, wants to know what they’re doing with the information when they scan our ID cards. Is it being compiled into some super-secret database so they can track who goes on base, how many times they go on base and for what reason? Is there a limit to the number of times you’re allowed to go on base? Are they tracking our movements with some hitherto unknown, secretly imbedded security device?
From what I understand, the ID scanning is part of a prototype system that’s being tested at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Okay, that’s fine. But I still have some questions. I’m sure counterfeit ID cards play into the story somehow and there are perfectly legitimate reasons for the whole thing. I’m certainly not going to make a fuss whether my ID card is scanned or not. I figure there are reasons for it. I’m just a curious person — it sort of goes with my job.
I first asked to do this story Jan. 13. Then there was the big snow storm, people were busy catching up, there was some miscommunication, yada yada yada. I was getting a little tired of waiting. I’m happy to say I have been granted the opportunity to do the story and to ask all the questions I’ve just posed.
Hopefully I won’t discover it’s the first step on a path toward full body scans.
-Kathy Reed, editor
