It's still pretty easy to forge a passport, according to the Government Accountability Office, which identified four test cases where false documents were used to procure passports. And despite reforms put into place since the 9/11 attacks, the GAO says government needs to work harder to come up with a foolproof and secure way to prevent false passports from being issued.

The federal government has been trying to deal with this issue since some of the 9/11 hijackers used fake documents to get Virginia driver's licenses, which then allowed them to board the airplanes that were hijacked. And there have been plenty of attempts to make passports foolproof. But not much has changed, according to Janice Kephart, an expert on travel document security who worked on the 9/11 Commission report.

"We have to address the...document issue in a very big way, and we have yet to do that across the board," Kephart said.

Members of Congress agree. "It's very troubling that in the years since the September 11 attacks someone could use fraudulent documents to obtain a U.S. passport," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said in a statement. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the report confirmed her fears that U.S. passports aren't secure.

"These passports can be used to purchase a weapon, fly overseas, or open a fraudulent bank account," Feinstein said. "This puts our nation in grave danger." 

For more on passport security:
- check out this GovernmentExecutive.com article