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Show Combating Counterfeiting: The Treasury's Perpetual Partnership with the Public Anissa Beecroft appeals to the public as it caters to people with visual impairments (Treasury 1995). Nevertheless, while the security features must appeal to the casual observer, the committee also emphasized that the security features must avert the casual counterfeiter. Consequently, the new design used to combat the advanced and available technology to would-be counterfeiters includes some of the preexisting security features that distanced the public in the 1991 series, such as a security thread and micro-printing. The thread in the new notes glows red when held under an ultraviolet light. This characteristic makes it difficult to copy with a color copier that uses reflected light to generate an image. Additionally, the thread is positioned in a different place on each denomination, starting with the $100 bill, to guard against certain counterfeit techniques, such as bleaching ink off a $1 bill and using the paper to change the bill into a higher value note. The microprinting has been included because the resolution of most current copiers is not sufficient to copy such fine print.Although all succeeding denominations of currency will have security features, the number of features will vary according to the denomination. Only the $100 bill, the first note of the new series released in 1996, includes all of the originally planned security features, while the $1 bill will have fewer and less sophisticated features (Treasury 1995). In light of all the new and old security features included in the redesign of U. S. currency by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Secret Service is continuing the "Know Your Money" campaign to work with American citizens by keeping them aware of the new design. Mary Ellen Withrow, Treasurer of the United States, in her address at the preview of the series 1996 $50 bill noted, Our [the Treasury's] public education campaign has informed millions and millions of people about our redesigned currency. Pamphlets and posters are being distributed across the globe. We are reaching out to the news media of the world to carry the word about the changes in United States currency (Treasury 1996, 2). Since the release of the $100 bill in March 1996, the Treasury Department has witnessed great success due to its new strategies. By the end of the currency's first year, the new Series 1996 $100 bills represented over a third of all $100s in circulation. At the same time, the U. S. Secret Service encountered counterfeit copies of the new $100 bills 18 times less than as to the older series. The Department concluded that the introduction of a new design was a "critical and effective step" in its ongoing commitment to maintain the security of the nation's currency by combating counterfeiting. The Treasury Department designed the $50 bill to be even more helpful as an ally to the public. Another recognizable security feature appears on the $50 bill that is not present on the $100 bill. As seen at its unveiling at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on June 12, 1997, the new $50 note displays a special low-vision feature while still including similar strategies used on the $100 bill, such as an enlarged portrait of Ulysses S. Grant and a more detailed picture of the U. S. Capitol on the back. The new design displays a large and dark numeral "50" on a clear, light surface occupying the entire right lower corner of the back. The numeral is almost double the size of the numeral on older series notes, measuring a little over one half inch in height. The large and distinct number makes the note more accessible to all users of U. S. currency, including the aging population and low-vision community. The feature has been included in the design at no cost to the Treasury, but at great benefit to the public. The highly visible features on the new $50 bill received a widely positive public response. Advocacy groups cheered the addition and the Treasury's promise that similar features will be incorporated in all other U. S. notes. Patricia Beattie, first vice president of the Council of Citizens with Low Vision International and a consultant for the new design, expressed her approval at the new $50 bill unveiling: Millions of young Americans born with impaired vision, adults who lose vision in later life, and all of us who sometimes don't wear our glasses will benefit from this new, bigger, bolder number on the back of the $50 bill. She concluded with a hopeful prompting to continue the alliance, "My colleagues on the Environmental Access Committee at the American Council of the Blind have encouraged me to call on Treasury to continue its research so that incorporating the good principles of universal design, ...eventually we can have U. S. currency-"real money," as well as big bills-that can be easily identified and readily usable by all Americans...the new $50, with those big, bold numerals, is a great start (Treasury 1997a, 7). Redesigning continues with the recently released $20 bill, and the Treasury Department maintains that it will not be another 67 years before the public sees a new currency design for all bills. Considering the fact that counterfeiting will continue as the general public acts as both an enemy and ally to the Department, the Treasury will always strive to secure the value of the dollar. The incorporation of design enhancements to address advances in reprographic technology is expected to be an ongoing process, with new variations being introduced on a regular basis. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, already has established an ongoing research facility. This facility, the Securities Technology Institute (STI), will assess the continuing counterfeiting problem and evaluate new features developed by industry and devise new techniques to address threats to the security of our nation's dollar. With approximately 3.7 million Americans suffering from visual disabilities, the Department of Treasury also commissioned the National Materials Advisory Board of the National Research Council to research currency features for visually impaired people. As a result of this study, one of the Council's principal recommendations was to incorporate a is |