-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 17, 2007 12:21:05 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Will You Be on the Government's No-"I" List?
Federal ID plan raises privacy concerns
Secretary Michael Chertoff says 8,000 forms of ID are now accepted
at border
Lawmakers concerned that only $40 million has been OK'd for $23
billion plan
13 states pass bills opposing Real ID; New Hampshire calls plan
"repugnant"
Conservative think tank says fears about loss of privacy are overblown
By Eliott C. McLaughlin
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/16/real.id/index.html
(CNN) -- Americans may need passports to board domestic flights or
to picnic in a national park next year if they live in one of the
states defying the federal Real ID Act.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says there are no
plans for a federal database of drivers' information.
The act, signed in 2005 as part of an emergency military spending
and tsunami relief bill, aims to weave driver's licenses and state
ID cards into a national identification system by May 2008. The law
sets baseline criteria for how driver's licenses will be issued and
what information they must contain.
The Department of Homeland Security insists Real ID is an essential
weapon in the war on terror, but privacy and civil liberties
watchdogs are calling the initiative an overly intrusive measure
that smacks of Big Brother.
More than half the nation's state legislatures have passed or
proposed legislation denouncing the plan, and some have penned
bills expressly forbidding compliance.
Several states have begun making arrangements for the new
requirements -- four have passed legislation applauding the measure
-- but even they may have trouble meeting the act's deadline.
The cards would be mandatory for all "federal purposes," which
include boarding an airplane <even in domestic flights> or walking
into a federal building, nuclear facility or national park,
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the National
Conference of State Legislatures last week. Citizens in states that
don't comply with the new rules will have to use passports for
federal purposes.
"For terrorists, travel documents are like weapons," Chertoff said.
"We do have a right and an obligation to see that those licenses
reflect the identity of the person who's presenting it."
Chertoff said the Real ID program is essential to national security
because there are presently 8,000 types of identification accepted
to enter the United States.
"It is simply unreasonable to expect our border inspectors to be
able to detect forgeries on documents that range from baptismal
certificates from small towns in Texas to cards that purport to
reflect citizenship privileges in a province somewhere in Canada,"
he said.
Chertoff attended the conference in Boston, Massachusetts, in part
to allay states' concerns, but he had few concrete answers on funding.
The Department of Homeland Security, which estimates state and
federal costs could reach $23.1 billion over 10 years, is looking
for ways to lessen the burden on states, he said. On the recent
congressional front, however, Chertoff could point only to an
amendment killed in the Senate last month that would've provided
$300 million for the program.
"There's going to be an irreducible expense that falls on you, and
that's part of the shared responsibility," Chertoff told the state
legislators.
Bill Walsh, senior legal fellow for the Heritage Foundation, a
Washington-based conservative think tank that supports the Real ID
Act, said states shouldn't be pushing for more federal dollars
because, ultimately, that will mean more federal oversight -- and
many complaints about cost coincide with complaints about the
federal government overstepping its bounds.
"They are only being asked to do what they should've already done
to protect their citizens," Walsh said, blaming arcane software and
policies at state motor vehicle departments for what he called "a
tremendous trafficking in state driver's licenses."
The NCSL is calling Real ID an "unfunded mandate" that could cost
states up to $14 billion over the next decade, but for which only
$40 million has been federally approved. The group is demanding
Congress pony up $1 billion for startup costs by year's end or
scrap the proposal altogether.
Everyone must visit DMV by 2013
The Real ID Act repealed a provision in the 9/11 Commission
Implementation Act calling for state and federal officials to
examine security standards for driver's licenses.
It called instead for states to begin issuing new federal licenses,
lasting no longer than eight years, by May 11, 2008, unless they
are granted an extension.
It also requires all 245 million license and state ID holders to
visit their local departments of motor vehicles and apply for a
Real ID by 2013. Applicants must bring a photo ID, birth
certificate, proof of Social Security number and proof of
residence, and states must maintain and protect massive databases
housing the information.
NCSL spokesman Bill Wyatt said the requirements are "almost
physically impossible." States will have to build new facilities,
secure those facilities and shell out for additional equipment and
personnel.
Those costs are going to fall back on the American taxpayer, he
said. It might be in the form of a new transportation, motor
vehicle or gasoline tax. Or you might find it tacked on to your
next state tax bill. In Texas, Wyatt said, one official told him
that without federal funding, the Lone Star State might have to
charge its citizens more than $100 for a license.
"We kind of feel like the way they went about this is backwards,"
Wyatt said, explaining that states would have appreciated more
input into the process. "Each state has its own unique challenges
and these are best addressed at state levels. A one-size-fits-all
approach to driver's licenses doesn't necessarily work."
Many states have revolted. The governors of Idaho, Maine, Montana,
New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Washington have signed
bills refusing to comply with the act. Six others have passed bills
and/or resolutions expressing opposition, and 15 have similar
legislation pending.
Though the NCSL says most states' opposition stems from the lack of
funding, some states cited other reasons for resisting the initiative.
New Hampshire passed a House bill opposing the program and calling
Real ID "contrary and repugnant" to the state and federal
constitutions. A Colorado House resolution dismissed Real ID by
expressing support for the war on terror but "not at the expense of
essential civil rights and liberties of citizens of this country."
Privacy concerns raised
Colorado and New Hampshire lawmakers are not alone. Groups like the
American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation
say the IDs and supporting databases -- which Chertoff said would
eventually be federally interconnected -- will infringe on privacy.
EFF says on its Web site that the information in the databases will
lay the groundwork for "a wide range of surveillance activities" by
government and businesses that "will be able to easily read your
private information" because of the bar code required on each card.
The databases will provide a one-stop shop for identity thieves,
adds the ACLU on its Web site, and the U.S. "surveillance society"
and private sector will have access to the system "for the routine
tracking, monitoring and regulation of individuals' movements and
activities."
The civil liberties watchdog dubs the IDs "internal passports" and
claims it wouldn't be long before office buildings, gas stations,
toll booths, subways and buses begin accessing the system.
But Chertoff told legislators last week that DHS has no intention
of creating a federal database, and Walsh, of the Heritage
Foundation, said the ACLU's allegations are disingenuous.
States will be permitted to share data only when validating
someone's identity, Walsh said.
"The federal government wouldn't have any greater access to
driver's license information than it does today," Walsh said.
States have the right to refuse to comply with the program, he
said, and they also have the right to continue issuing IDs and
driver's licenses that don't meet Real ID requirements.
But, Walsh said, "any state that's refusing to implement this key
recommendation by the 9/11 Commission, and whose state driver's
licenses are as a result used in another terrorist attack, should
be held responsible."
State reaction to Real ID has not been all negative. Four states
have passed bills or resolutions expressing approval for the
program, and 13 states have similar legislation pending (Several
states have pending pieces of legislation both applauding and
opposing Real ID).
Chertoff said there would be repercussions for states choosing not
to comply.
"This is not a mandate," Chertoff said. "A state doesn't have to do
this, but if the state doesn't have -- at the end of the day, at
the end of the deadline -- Real ID-compliant licenses then the
state cannot expect that those licenses will be accepted for
federal purposes."
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