In response to a flurry of publicity kicked off by a story last week in the New York Times in which we were quoted, the DHS has posted several new or updated pages about the REAL-ID Act on its website, including a new page headed, “REAL ID and You: Rumor Control“. Not surprisingly, the DHS […]
As we’ve noted in our previous commentaries on the REAL-ACT in this blog and in our recent presentation at the Cato Institute, there are two components to the threats against individual residents of “noncompliant” states (and territories and the District of Columbia) that are being used by the DHS to try to induce reluctant state […]
Is gradual implementation of the REAL-ID Act cooking us slowly, like frogs who, if the temperature of the water is increased gradually enough, don’t realize that they need to jump out of the pot until it’s too late? Last month was another of the deadlines set by the Department of Homeland Security for “implementation” and […]
July 21, 2014 marked “Phase 2” of implementation of the REAL-ID Act. What does this mean, and does it matter? As of July 21, drivers’ licenses and other state ID credentials issued by US states or territories that haven’t been certified by the DHS to comply with the REAL-ID Act cannot be accepted by Federal […]
From the Identity Project mailbag: My life has been basically destroyed because I don’t have a valid state-issued photo ID. Thanks to terrorists, it is illegal for any employer in my state to hire me. I am a natural-born citizen of the United States, born and raised in the State of New Jersey. I have […]
In the latest step in the implementation of the REAL-ID Act and the establishment of a de facto national ID card and database, the Department of Homeland Security has requested OMB approval for the collection of additional information from states and individuals. The public response to the DHS request, particularly these comments submitted by the […]
The Senate Homeland Secuirty Committee hearing this Wednesday on “Reevaluating the REAL ID Act” was a sham, in which the only”opponents” or “critics” of the current REAL-ID law allowed to testify were those who prefer the PASS-ID bill to substitute an alternate national ID card mandate. Critics of any national ID need not apply to […]
Chris Strohm of the National Journal’s CongressDaily reports: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona, said Monday that her office is participating in a working group established by the National Governors Association to review the so-called Real ID law, which Congress passed in 2005 while under Republican control. “What they’re looking at […]
There’ve been a lot of scary reports lately about how, if your state governor doesn’t “volunteer” to collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security’s “REAL-ID” scheme for a distributed national identity card and linked databases of personal information about every American resident, the DHS won’t “allow” you to board any airline flight in the U.S. […]
We think so. Ars Technica asks the question. So does Declan McCullagh on CNet News. Montana Senators Baucus and Tester, who filed the amendment on which the bill foundered, are happy to take the credit.