Defcon 2010 badge

My colleague Ryan geeking out with the infamous "ninja badge".

Look how happy he looks!

Anybody want to place a bid?  I can get it while he is asleep....

DHS Anti-terrorism technology examined

Together with my (second) erroneous ID card, I got this cool envelope from the "Department of Homeland security".

It mentions:

"We recommend use of this envelope to protect your new card and to prevent wireless communication with it."

And the same message in Spanish.  Because, of course, every "alien" speaks Spanish.

I have a few questions surrounding this:

1.  Why on earth is my card even capable of "wireless communication"?  Do I really want my personally information to be read remotely? Who thought this was a good idea?  The rest of the US burocracy is stuck in the stone age, but somebody thought that contact-read card with RSA encoded chips would not have been fancy enough. 
2. Tinfoil.  Seriously?  Billions of dollars in funding and the technology that keeps us safe from terrorists stealing our identity is the same that your parents packed your sandwiches in?

We're all gonna die.