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Show Hinckley Journal of Politics Autumn 1998 for the public has posed a grave obstacle to the nation. In 1987, the Secret Service seized $62.3 million in counterfeit notes before they were circulated, while $9.3 million worth of bills were passed on to the public. According to the Secret Service, even after the BEP added several security features to the 1991 currency series, counterfeiting continued to increase at a rate of 4 to 6 percent annually. In 1991, the Federal Reserve System handled over $265 billion worth of U. S. banknotes (Brown & Einsel 1992). During the same year, counterfeiters passed $15.1 million in fake bills in the United States. Additionally, the Secret Service seized $87 million in counterfeit notes before they entered circulation. From October 1992 through September 1993, $20 million in counterfeit banknotes entered the commercial mainstream in the United States. While a 1992 analysis of counterfeiting in America showed that only $6 million to $8 million of the total amount of fake currency was produced using non-impact reprographic technology, this number was double that of years past. In 1995, the Secret Service seized $75.3 million in counterfeit notes and $32.5 million worth of dollars reached the public (Sampson 1997). Assuming that the rate of counterfeiting with nonimpact reprographic equipment continues to double every year until the year 2000, the value of counterfeit currency could grow to almost $2 billion. A large amount of counterfeiting causes severe problems for the economy and impacts the ability of law enforcement agencies to respond. Thus, the Treasury Department decided to give the public a new set of advantages by making the dollar more difficult to replicate and easier to recognize. In 1992, the Department of Treasury asked the National Research Council, through its National Materials Advisory Board, to analyze the visible counterfeit deterrence features. The study focused on two primary deterrent objectives to determine if the Treasury won allies from or alienated the public with the dollar bill (Materials 1993, 101). First, the features were judged according to their ability to discourage the growth of a new category of "casual" or "crime-of-oppor-tunity" counterfeiters created with the new influx of advanced and available technology. Second, the Council considered whether the elements gave the public a simple means of recognizing a reprographically produced counterfeit. In its assessment of visible features in the 1991 currency series, the Council concluded, "The existing counterfeit-deterrence features cannot be authenticated easily and unobtrusively by inexperienced and untrained personnel at points of sale." The Council based this assessment on the following factors: • Detecting the unique feel of authentic currency paper requires experience in handling currency. The average citizen cannot do this as the feel changes with wear. • The distinctness of intaglio printed images can be observed with a low-power magnifier, but this requires experience and time to do. • Most cashiers do not know the meaning of the serial numbers. Most people do not pay particular attention to the numbers and rarely pick up on multiple bills with the same serial number. • The red and blue fibers can be detected only through very close inspection in good lighting. • Microprinting cannot be read without a magnifier, but it can be copied. The findings of this study determined what the increase in counterfeiting had already demonstrated-the general public must be able to readily recognize anti-counterfeiting features on the dollar. In order to ultimately combat counterfeiting, history has proven, modern deterrents have to possess a highly visible means of authentication that is not only difficult to reproduce, but "readily observable by an individual unaided, or using low-cost, relatively unobtrusive devices" (1). The Newest Currency Considering the results of this study and the increasing counterfeiting threat, the Department of the Treasury again attempted to regain the public's partnership and to suppress counterfeiting by undertaking the largest redesign of U. S. currency since 1929. On September 27, 1995, Secretary of the Treasury Robert E. Rubin announced that the United States would issue a new $100 note that had been redesigned to incorporate numerous new and modified security features. Secretary Rubin commented, '"What we are doing with the introduction of the 1996 series note is similar to what other administrations have done throughout our history: We are improving the security of the currency, and maintaining its integrity and global reputation'" (quoted in Treasury 1995, 1). The Treasury hopes that several/of the new security features in the $100 bill will fill the needs of American citizens, along with those of the government. The new bill includes a watermark, color-shifting inks, concentric fine-line patterns, and an enlarged off-center portrait. The watermark, a variance of paper density within a small area, depicts the same historical figure as the printed portrait so it can be readily compared with the printed portrait. The public can see the darker and lighter areas composing the image with the naked eye from either side of the note, but color copiers cannot copy the watermark. Thus, the feature is quite simple to recognize and more difficult to counterfeit. The borders have been simplified so that the watermark can be viewed easily. Similarly, the color-shifting ink is easy to detect because the ink appears green when viewed directly and black when the note is tilted. The concentric fine-lines appear normal to the human eye but are difficult for current equipment to scan properly. Most noticeable of all the new features is the enlarged off-center portrait of Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill. The picture has been shifted to the side to provide room for the watermark and security thread. The new portrait aids in the recogniz-ability of the note as the slight relocation reduces wear on most of the portrait by removing it from the frequently folded center. It also incorporates more detail that is harder to counterfeit and provides an easy way for the public to distinguish the new design from the old. Additionally, the increased size 17 |