Obama's DHS Secretary Supports Weakening
Post-9/11 Driver's License Reforms
That Were Designed To Thwart Terrorists
CNSNews.com 7/17/09
Opposition is growing to
legislation that would weaken some of the restrictions to the
Real ID act, a law that resulted from a key recommendation of
the 9/11 Commission to prevent identification fraud.
The PASS ID bill, which is supported by Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano, eliminates security measures
included in the Real ID Act, which required verification of
birth certificates, Social Security numbers and immigration
status before someone could get a driver's license that could
be used as an identification card for federal purposes such as
boarding an airplane. The purposed of the REAL ID act was to
prevent ID fraud and fulfill recommendations made by the 9/11
Commission.
The Pass ID bill would not require that the birth certificate is
confirmed, would leave addresses off some driver’s licenses in
cases where it is for their own protection and would not require
that people have a valid driver’s license or ID to board an
airplane.
The Real ID act requires state Department of Motor Vehicles (or
the driver license issuing agency) to cross check the name and
information of other states, which would not be required under
Pass ID.
All but one of the 19 hijackers on the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attack on America had multiple driver licenses. To go from Real
ID to Pass ID would be to undermine the 9/11 Commission’s
recommendations, said Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), who
sponsored the Real ID act in 2005.
“This undercuts the Real ID goal, which was the goal of a
combination of people from immigrant groups, the ACLU and
governors that don’t want to pay for it,” Sensenbrenner told
CNSNews.com. “Real ID is essential and necessary. Most of the
9/11 terrorists had multiple driver’s licenses.”
The 9/11 Commission report released in 2004 said “for
terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons.”
Still, the American Civil Liberties Union has alleged that the
new requirements on driver’s licenses amount to a national ID
card for citizens. Sensenbrenner disputes that, adding that
states have had a cross-checking system for commercial driver’s
license since the early 1990s.
“This is to use the driver’s license as an ID so there will be
no need for a national ID card. If the driver’s licenses don’t
mean anything, there will be more pressure for national ID
cards,” Sensenbrenner continued. “This has been the system for
commercial driver’s license for almost 20 years.”
Sensenbrenner said that Real ID is also a highway safety issue
as well. Without it, someone with a suspended license could more
easily cross a state line, list a friend's address and obtain a
driver’s license without the points on their record.
The National Governor’s Association also opposes Real ID because
many governors consider it an unfunded federal mandate. Though
passed by Congress and signed by President Bush, Real ID was
never implemented nationwide, and 24 states have resisted
implementation of the law, of which 13 states passed laws to not
participate in Real ID.
Napolitano said the Pass ID bill brings the U.S. closer to
compliance with federal standards for secure driver’s licenses.
“Pass ID is a cost-effective, common-sense solution that
balances critical security requirements with the input and
practical needs of state governments,” Napolitano, the former
Arizona governor, said in a statement. “I am committed to
supporting this important bill, and it is my hope that Congress
will pass it into law and as quickly as possible.”
Sensenbrenner is not surprised by Napolitano’s support of what
he considers a watered-down ID law.
“It’s not surprise that the governor of Arizona is for this. She
always resisted Real ID,” he said. “It passed the Senate by
100-0 and was supported by Senators Biden and Obama.”
The Pass ID bill is under consideration in the Senate Homeland
Security and Government Affairs Committee. Committee Chairman
Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) was non-committal but seemed open to
support it with changes.
“We must work with the states to help them create secure
identification documents, while still protecting privacy
concerns and ensuring that states can comply,” Lieberman said in
a statement. “There are changes we can make to the PASS ID Act
so that it meets these goals.”
The committee’s ranking member Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
expressed more reservations in a statement.
“Certain language in the PASS ID Act may undermine that goal
because it would not allow TSA to prevent a passenger from
boarding a plane based ‘solely’ on the fact that he or she did
not have a compliant license.” Collins said. “I think you’re
creating a situation where a security official feels he or she
has no choice but to let the person board the plane.”
The lack of a birth certificate requirement poses a great risk,
said Stewart A. Baker, former assistant secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security.
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, Baker talked
about a Florida case where a man’s identity was stolen through
using a fake birth certificate to gain a driver’s license. The
thief used the fraudulently obtained license to buy guns and
commit several crimes, including shooting four police officers
and killing one of them.
The victim of the identity theft was sought out by police for
the shootings. The matter was resolved, and the real culprit was
captured, but it might have turned out differently, Baker said.
“It could have been a really fatal case of identity theft, not a
case born out of a bad fake ID, but born out of a fake birth
certificate,” Baker said. “The problem with the Pass ID act –
birth certificates, not our problem. We’ll worry about that some
other day.”
If the Federal Trade Commission regulated legislation the way
they regulate advertising, the drafters of this legislation
would face sanctions, Baker said.
“What we have is a classic case where we’ll have good IDs,
because they will be hard to forge, but it’s going to be easy to
get a fake ID,” Baker continued.
The Pass ID reforms will make Americans safer and lessen the
burden on states said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of the
co-sponsors of the legislation.
“I believe this new legislation is a step forward in an ongoing
effort to protect the country from harmful actors, as well as
honoring citizens’ privacy concerns,” Carper said in a
statement. “This legislation will reduce the cost and time of
REAL ID implementation to the state of Delaware, as well as
provide more privacy protections to our citizens that the
earlier REAL ID Act of 2005 left out,” said Carper.
The Pass ID bill is a big improvement with regards to privacy
over the Real ID law, said Ari Schwartz, president of the Center
for Democracy & Technology, by requiring less personally
identifiable information be collected for the issuance of a
driver’s license.
“Protecting privacy and security is an ongoing process that
requires continual attention to new risks and the potential for
profiling and fraud,” Schwartz said in a statement. “CDT will
continue to work with Congress and the states to improve privacy
and security in driver's license and ID card issuance and in
associated back-end information systems.”
But the improvements are not enough for the ACLU, which sent a
letter to members of Congress this week imploring them to oppose
the legislation.
“We are united in opposing the Pass ID Act because we don't want
a ‘National ID light,’” said Chris Calabrese, counsel to the
ACLU technology and liberty program in a statement. "Since 24
states rejected it, Real ID is dead. Cosmetic changes should not
be allowed to resuscitate this ill-advised law … The only fix in
the Pass ID Act is the name. Congress might hope that the states
who voted against implementing the Real ID Act will give them a
pass on Pass ID, but that would be ill-advised.”
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