Posted on 01/12/2008 5:42:02 AM PST by kellynla
Millions of air travelers may find going through airport security much more complicated this spring, as the Bush administration heads toward a showdown with state governments over post-Sept. 11 rules for new driver's licenses.
By May, the dispute could leave millions of people unable to use their licenses to board planes, but privacy advocates called that a hollow threat by federal officials.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who was unveiling final details of the REAL ID Act's rules on Friday, said that if states want their licenses to remain valid for air travel after May 2008, those states must seek a waiver indicating they want more time to comply with the legislation.
Chertoff said that for any state which doesn't seek such a waiver by May, residents of that state will have to use a passport or certain types of federal border-crossing cards if they want to avoid a vigorous secondary screening at airport security.
"The last thing I want to do is punish citizens of a state who would love to have a REAL ID license but can't get one," Chertoff said. "But in the end, the rule is the rule as passed by Congress."
The plan's chief critic, the American Civil Liberties Union, called Chertoff's deadline a bluff — and urged state governments to call him on it.
"Are they really prepared to shut those airports down? Which is what effectively would happen if the residents of those states are going to have to go through secondary scrutiny," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's technology and liberty program. "This is a scare tactic."
So far, 17 states have passed legislation or resolutions objecting to the REAL ID Act's provisions, many due to concerns it will cost them too much to comply. The 17, according to the ACLU, are Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.
Maine officials said Friday they were unsure if their own state law even allows them to ask for a waiver.
"It certainly seems to be an effort by the federal government to create compliance with REAL ID whether states have an interest in doing so or not," said Don Cookson, spokesman for the Maine secretary of state's office.
The Sept. 11 attacks were the main motivation for the changes: The hijacker-pilot who flew into the Pentagon, Hani Hanjour, had four driver's licenses and ID cards from three states.
The Homeland Security Department and other officials say the only way to ensure an ID is safe is to check it against secure government data; critics such as the ACLU say that creates a system that is more likely to be infiltrated and have its personal data pilfered.
Congress passed the REAL ID law in 2005, but the effort has been delayed by opposition from states worried about the cost and civil libertarians upset about what they believe are invasions of privacy.
Under the rules announced Friday, Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years, over which time the new requirements would gradually be phased in.
A key deadline would come in 2011, when federal authorities hope all states will be in compliance, and the regulations would not take full effect for all Americans until 2017.
To make the plan more appealing to cost-conscious states, federal authorities drastically reduced the expected cost from $14.6 billion to $3.9 billion, a 73 percent decline, said Homeland Security officials familiar with the plan.
By 2014, anyone seeking to board an airplane or enter a federal building would have to present a REAL ID-compliant card, with the notable exception of those older than 50, Homeland Security officials said.
The over-50 exemption was created to give states more time to get everyone new licenses, and officials say the risk of someone in that age group being a terrorist, illegal immigrant or con artist is much less. By 2017, even those over 50 must have a REAL ID-compliant card to board a plane.
Among other details of the REAL ID plan:
_The traditional driver's license photograph would be taken at the beginning of the application instead of the end so that if someone is rejected for failure to prove identity and citizenship, the applicant's photo would be kept on file and checked if that person tried to con the system again.
_The cards will have three layers of security measures but will not contain microchips as some had expected. States will be able to choose from a menu which security measures they will put in their cards.
_After Social Security and immigration status checks become nationwide practice, officials plan to move on to more expansive security checks. State DMV offices would be required to verify birth certificates; check with other states to ensure an applicant doesn't have more than one license; and check with the State Department to verify applicants who use passports to get a driver's license.
Mine, too.
The same page. :)
:)
Since we’re all on the “same page”....does that make our understand “global”?
lol!
ooops
understand = understanding
We normally have pretty accurate hunches.....if for no other reason than that...it’ll be interesting to see if we ever come up with something, lol.
Lololol. Sometimes irony sucks. lolol
Hey JerkOff (sorry, "Chertoff"), I think Congress passed some "rules" about securing the border over the past few centuries. How goes your department's effort toward adhering to those rules?
Yeah...sure does, hehehe.
ot Michelle Obama is on the Chicago IL branch of CFR. It's name is The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Ain't that just so sweet.
Oh well................lol
So sweet. Why do they always hide behind "sweet" names?
I don’t know about global, but I wish more people would understand this. Everyday something more confounding hits the news, and the only thing that makes any sense anymore is that this is true.
Exactly. But when you try to discuss this with any kind of seriousness with many people, they laugh, scoff, deride, call names, etc., etc., etc. The NWO folks have done a superb job fooling so many sheep.
Turn security over to the carriers. End the TSA and close down the DHS. Arm pilots and crews as well as passengers with CCW permits. See who hijacks a plane then. A few persons in a doomed plane did far more for future airline security than all of Bush's programs combined. They determined their own response.
Seems less threatening to the sheeple I guess. :)
We are so derided here on FR when it comes to the NWO. But we keep truckin’.
“...if you have ever worked in your life, you have had a national ID; it’s called a Social Security card.”
If it’s an ID card, why does mine say:
Sign your card right away and keep it in a safe place.
DO NOT carry it with you.
I’m thinking you misunderstand the purpose of the Social Security Card. I believe it is intended to make sure that Uncle Sam gets what he thinks he’s got coming to him, and that we don’t get any more of it back than he wants us to get.
They do their damnedest to shut us up don’t they.
I have been looking for an article that I can’t find. I won’t give up though. I did run across this article that you might find interesting.
Since no one has mentioned, to my knowledge, the amount of information and the kind of information these data bases will hold.
http://www.csc.com/industries/government/casestudies/2790.shtml
excerpt
Belgium’s 10 million citizens will soon use their new digital eID cards to file taxes, open bank accounts and make purchases on the Internet—through the card’s unique ability to digitally authenticate identity.
excerpt
On the one hand, the card had to be a highly secure identification document that would be used by law enforcement agencies, both visually and electronically, and support both e-government and business applications,”
We have never had a computer with personal records stoled from a hospital or government office. /Sarc
So where will the data base computers be located. They should be in Fort Knox but instead these computers with personal information will be in Mexico.
It will be interesting to see what company will provide these cards. The stock market is down, Christmas sales down or off so Mexico gives their business to a company from Germany.
We have a Customs Treaty with Mexico. They will probably have access to all of our data bases.
Belgium and the rest of the world does not live next door to Mexico.
This is all brought to us by a Republican Congress and Republican President.
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