Real ID and Reality

The REAL ID laws were a top a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission after investigators found that the hijackers had obtained 17 driver’s licenses and 13 state-issued identification cards in the process of carrying out terrorist actions. “Terrorists take advantage of the system being blind,” said Janice Kephart, President of 9/11 Security Solutions.

“This is going to make three groups of people unhappy: terrorists, illegal workers, con men and criminals,”

said Stewart A. Baker, the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the DHS. The new laws are making others unhappy as well. Because the REAL ID Act does not institute a national identification card, it is left to the states to enforce the new standards. This leaves a large financial burden on state governments.

[i.e., the government blew it again. I used to warn of and rail against a national I.D. Then the world changed, and now we need one. Regrettable, unavoidable, let's grow up and get it done - at the federal level where it belongs (otherwise our security control is only as strong as that of the weakest state)]

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