Papers, Please!

The Identity Project

Jun 24 2008

AAMVA Is Big Winner in DHS Grants to States for REAL ID Implementation

DHS recently announced $79 million in grants to states for REAL ID implementation. DHS said it “awarded $17 million to Missouri to lead the development of the verification hub. Four other states – Florida, Indiana, Nevada, and Wisconsin – will each receive $1.2 million to partner with Missouri for verification hub testing and implementation.”

Homeland Security Today investigated the details of the grants, and it’s clear that AAMVA is the big winner. The site reveals, “The breakdown of awards, obtained by HSToday.us, signifies that AAMVA effectively gains a no-bid contract under the awards, as DHS designates it the sole national centralized database of driver’s license information under REAL ID through a grant award to the state of Missouri.” (emphasis ours).

DHS sources told Homeland Security Today, “A competitive grant process could have resulted in multiple hub awards instead of a sole-source contract to AAMVA, sources argue, decentralizing REAL ID information somewhat and encouraging the rise of the most effective database solution between competing vendors.”

It is not surprising that DHS would ensure there would be a single database system. Currently, the states all have their own databases. The point of the REAL ID national identification system is to meld the information from 56 states and territories and create a single database filled with the personal data of all 240 million license and ID cardholders nationwide.

Jun 23 2008

Department of Homeland Security Gives States $79M for REAL ID Implementation

The Department of Homeland Security announced $79 million in grants to states for implementation of the REAL ID national identification system. The funds will go to projects “such as collecting applicants’ photos at the start of the application process and incorporating additional physical security features into DLs and IDs. Other funded projects that advance REAL ID implementation, include transitioning to centralized DL and ID production, improving data records for driver’s licenses, and upgrading source document imaging and storage.”

DHS also wants the states to use the funds to create a central “verification hub that will enable states to query federal and non-federal document-issuing authorities and verify applicant source documents.” “Verification hub” is DHS’s latest euphemism for the national identification system it seeks to create by linking the motor vehicle databases of all 56 states and territories, which the agency hopes will contain data on all 240 million driver’s license and cardholders nationwide.

Twenty states have passed anti-REAL ID legislation. The latest was Arizona. Last week, its governor signed into law a bill that prohibits Arizona from implementing the REAL ID system.

Read IDP’s comments on the draft regulations here (pdf). Our privacy and civil liberty arguments remain even with the final regulations. No national identification system should ever be created, whether under REAL ID or any other scheme.

Jun 23 2008

TSA Changes Airport ID Requirement; ID-Less Could Be Denied Right to Fly

The Transportation Security Administration has changed its airport ID requirement. These changes allow the agency to deny the right to fly to individuals who “willfully refuse” to present government-issued identification at an airport security checkpoint. The TSA’s press release, which is how we learn about changes in the law, now reads in part as follows:

Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity.

This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. Cooperative passengers without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures.

In Gilmore v. Gonzales (Gilmore was represented by The Identity Project Director James Harrison), we learned that the pre-June 21, 2008 policy allowed individuals who willfully refused to present government-issued identification to fly if they submitted to extra security screening. This new regulation is a substantial change that was made without public review through the usual Federal Register notice and comment process. Read More →

Mar 31 2008

ID Still Not Required To Fly

As reported several weeks ago and in accordance with the Gilmore decision, ID is not required to fly in the United States. Two recent documents have corroborated this fact. The first is today’s letter from South Carolina Governor Sanford to DHS in which he does not ask for an extension to comply with Real ID, but he does reference on its last page the Gilmore decision and the court’s determination therein that there is no ID to fly requirement.

The second is a letter from DHS dated March 22, 2008 to a private individual who queried DHS on their identification to fly policy after seeing signs in airports stating ID was required to fly despite the 9th Circuit’s ruling in Gilmore. This letter states that ID is, in fact, not required to fly domestically, despite DHS’ mis-truths printed on signs at airports.

This letter is important because the law that governs ID requirements to travel by air in the United States is identified by the Secretary of TSA to be Sensitive Security Information (“SSI”) meaning its release would be “detrimental to the safety of transportation” – meaning it’s “secret law” – meaning we can’t tell when the law has changed. All we are now allowed to know is that the law has not changed as of March 22, 2008.

We prefer the Federal Register as the resource for being alerted as to a change in the laws as opposed to DHS’ random corrections to their continuous mis-truths printed up on signs in our nation’s airports.

Mar 10 2008

IDP Helps Forment REAL ID Rebellion In California

After a long and uncharacteristic silence, the State of California is finally weighing-in on the national ID card debate: the anti-REAL ID Assembly Joint Resolution 51 was introduced today by Transportation Committee Chairman Pedro Nava.

At the Assembly’s invitation, IDP Director Jim Harrison was instrumental in drafting the Resolution: go Jim!

More on the Resolution can be read over at Ryan “That’s a shovel, not a spade” Singel’s webular log, 27 B-6.

Feb 03 2008

Will you really need a “REAL-ID” to fly? No.

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. of A.

What’s the skinny?

It’s an empty threat, designed to intimidate citizens, state legislators, and governors. You’ll still have a legal right to travel, even by air, even if your state opts out of compliance with the REAL-ID Act.

The DHS does have plans to require everyone who wants to fly to carry government-issued papers and get permission for each flight from the DHS. The DHS is already trying to put some of those into effect this month for international travel, and has proposed to extend them to domestic flights as part of Secure Flight.

But those other rules are independent of the REAL-ID Act, and don’t yet affect domestic air travel. Nothing in the REAL-ID law or regulations would require you to show ID to fly.

Don’t be scared. Ignore the empty threats. Stand up for your rights, and fly freely — with or without papers or permission.

Jan 26 2008

Closing the noose on the USA

A pop quiz for US citizens:

The next time you want to leave the USA. will your government let you go? When you want to come back, will they allow you to come home?

Unless people assert their rights, maybe not. And you’ll need the government to give you papers or permission to do so.

The Department of Homeland Security has already issued regulations effective February 18th that will forbid international airlines from letting anyone on a plane to or from the US without individualized express prior permission from the DHS. Those rules were issued in spite of our objections that they violate the US Constitution international human rights treaties.

And already the Department of Homeland Security is trying to enforce an illegal regulation that purports to require passports (issued at the “discretion” and for the “convenience” of the government, not as a matter of right, and which take weeks to obtain if you want to travel on short notice) for citizens to fly between the USA and Canada or Mexico. (Again, having ignored our objections.)

The DHS has proposed to extend that rule to those crossing the land borders with Canada and Mexico, closing the last possible means of leaving the USA, or returning home from abroad, without DHS papers or permission.

Now, without even considering our objections or any others, the DHS has announced a change in “internal” procedures that would achieve essentially the same result as the “pending” rulemaking: Effective January 31st, the goons from the DHS Customs and Border Protection division will be instructed not to permit anyone to cross the US border — even US citizens — unless they present government-issued documents proving their citizenship to their satisfaction.

The burden will be on you to “prove” your right to travel, rather than on the government to prove you are doing something wrong if they want to prevent you. And only government-issued documents will suffice. If the government won’t give you papers, you can neither leave nor return to your own country.