A pair of news stories about the venerable U.S. passport caught my eye this week.

If you don't have a passport (and only 60 million Americans -- 20 percent of our population -- do) you should definitely get one.

Inside, there's a little note from the secretary of state herself, asking that I be given any legal assistance while traveling.

Thanks, Condi! And I didn't even vote for your guy.

In the first story, we learn the United States is thinking of asking Americans returning from such close-to-home destinations as Mexico and Canada to show their passports at the border. Currently, you can get back by showing a driver's license or, in some cases, just by saying you're an American (ideally, you'll say that in English).

Of course, the Canadians are upset, saying that perhaps they'll demand to see Americans' passports when they arrive to tour Canada. As if the ball caps, fanny packs, ample waists and mangled French didn't give them away.

Canada did send 16 million of its citizens and $7.9 billion of its dollars here last year. And Americans tour Mexico by the truckload, especially those who like to walk over the border at San Diego to cerveza-soaked Tijuana. But that isn't persuading the government.

The show-your-passport rules will kick in starting at the end of this year. As if the line of cars waiting to get from T.J. to the U.S. wasn't long enough.

And why? Does the relentless interrogation stop many terrorists? As if a trained al-Qaida agent, confronted by a stern question about whether he's a U.S. citizen, is suddenly going to blurt out: "You got me, damn infidel! Death to America! And, by the way, I would like to declare the medium-sized bomb I have in the trunk."

But if long lines are your worry, put your mind at ease. In order to combat global passport fraud (or at least that's the cover story) the U.S. plans to put a radio frequency identification chip into new passports.

The chip includes a miniature antenna that broadcasts information to a scanner, like your name, your passport number and a digital copy of your photo.

This is a concern to privacy advocates, who fear identity theft from smart thieves who simply walk past you with a scanner in an airport or on a foreign street, downloading all the information from your passport.

And, they say, terrorists could purchase scanners and use them to identify Americans on crowded foreign streets, targeting them for kidnapping or death.

Suddenly, that little note from Condi doesn't seem so comforting anymore. One anti-chip group went so far to call them "terrorist beacons."

The government maintains the document can be read only by a machine within about four inches of the chip, but scientists in one test were able to detect a chip's signal from several feet away, although they couldn't read the information on it.

Diplomats will start getting the new "smart" passports in August, and new applicants will get them starting next year.

Despite the hassle and the danger, one thing will change with the new policies: The government will be more easily able to track your movements, even when you take a day trip next door to Mexico.

Some will say they've nothing to hide, and that's probably true. But shouldn't the question really be, why do they need to know?