Big Brother Government: State Department Edition

The new changes the State Department is making it harder for travelers to require a passport.

The U.S. Department of State is proposing a new Biographical Questionnaire for some passport applicants: The proposed new Form DS-5513 asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history including employers’ and supervisors names, addresses, and telephone numbers; personal details of all siblings; mother’s address one year prior to your birth; any “religious ceremony” around the time of birth; and a variety of other information. According to the proposed form, “failure to provide the information requested may result in … the denial of your U.S. passport application.”

This will just create a backlog of paperwork. Why does the State Department need to know the details of the religious ceremony of my birth. I have no idea if I was baptized after I was born. I don't have contact information for my employers from when I was a teenager. I don't even know if the people I worked for is still alive.

The State Department is now assuming al-qaeda terrorists are homegrown in the United States. None of the 9-11 hijackers were born in the U.S.

Here is a PDF copy of the State Department form. The form asks your mother's address at the time of your birth, a year after your birth and your mother's employer at the time of your birth. The State Department also wants to know the name of your mother's employer at that time and the job address. How people whose mothers are deceased going to be able to provide that information is not the State Department's problem. You also have to know if your mother had pre-natal or post-natal medical care.

I blame Hillary Clinton for this form.