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The Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is responsible for producing the new series currency, which, like other United States currency, is issued through the Federal Reserve System. Crime organizations along with advanced copying technologies have helped raise the incidence of conterfeiting. Ink jet printers, color copiers, and scanners are just a few tools criminals use to create bogus bills. In December 1993, the National Research Council (NRC), funded by the Department of the Treasury, published Counterfeit Deterrent Features for the Next Generation Currency Design. This report analyzed and recommended overt counterfeit deterrent features that could be incorporated into a redesign of U.S. banknotes. The
new features found in the Series 1996 $20, $50 and $100 notes--
including enlarged off-center portrait, watermark, fine-line
printing patterns and color-shifting ink-- were selected after
extensive testing and evaluation of approximately 120 bank note
security devices, many of which are used successfully by other
countries with lower production and circulation demands. Other
pre-existing security features, such as the security thread and
microprinting, are included in the new notes and have changed only
slightly. |