[Infowarrior] - DHS Retreats From Facets of 'Real ID'

[Richard Forno]

Homeland Security Retreats From Facets of 'Real ID'

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 4, 2007; A07

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/03/AR2007110300
890_pf.html

The Bush administration is easing its demand for tough national standards
for driver's licenses, acting at the behest of state officials who say the
"Real ID" plan is unworkable and too costly, officials familiar with the new
policy said.

While Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hailed an agreement with
New York last week on more secure state identification cards for citizens as
a sign that "the tide is moving more rapidly in favor of Real ID," his
department is preparing to extend deadlines for the second time in a year
and ease or take over responsibility for new security measures, the
officials said.

Chertoff had earlier announced that DHS would waive the original May 2008
deadline and set a new target of 2013 for getting all 245 million U.S.
driver's licenses to comply with a national standard. Now, DHS may extend
the original deadline by a decade, to 2018 for drivers older than 40 or 50
to reduce the costs associated with a projected surge of customers at state
motor vehicle departments, the officials said.

In a recent meeting, DHS policy official Richard C. Barth told state
officials to expect Real ID's price tag to fall by "billions of dollars" as
DHS eases previous demands that the new licenses be renewed every five
years, that expensive, tamper-resistant materials be used to create the ID
cards, and that each state develop its own document verification systems,
those officials said.

In an interview Friday, Barth's boss, DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy
Stewart A. Baker, said the department is finalizing long-awaited regulations
for a 90-day White House budget review, and has "listened hard to the
states' concerns about possible costs and disruptions to their licensing
procedures, and we are going to make changes in response to those concerns .
. . and still provide the security the country expects."

Extending Real ID deadlines to align with how state agencies register and
renew license holders can shorten lines, reduce hiring and slash costs,
Baker said. The changes also will make the process easier for older drivers,
who are viewed as less of a security risk but are sometimes unable to
provide reliable source documents such as birth certificates.

Analysts inside and outside of government say the changes reflect the
difficulties facing DHS, which has less experience in managing
identification programs than the states do. The analysts said that the
changes also reflect the high cost of Real ID and worries that the program
already is opposed from the left and the right as a potential threat to
individual privacy.

Timothy Sparapani, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil
Liberties Union, said DHS is weakening the program in a desperate bid to
keep it alive. The ACLU and conservative libertarian groups that oppose Real
ID view it as a de facto national ID with Orwellian implications. Eight
states have passed legislation to opt out of the program, nine others have
passed resolutions in opposition, and more will consider doing so this
winter.

"DHS is doing back flips in order to get states to say they are complying
with Real ID," Sparapani said. "It was flawed in principle from the
beginning, and DHS is attempting a 'Hail Mary' pass to try to coerce and
convince states that what they are doing under existing statutes is
acceptable."

Brian Zimmer, president of the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, a
nonprofit advocacy group, said DHS "is doing its very best to manage the
trade-offs between security, travel facilitation, cost for states and
practical consideration in implementation."

In 2005, Congress passed legislation mandating Real ID to standardize
information that must be included on licenses, including a digital
photograph, a signature and machine-readable features such as a bar code.
Under the law, states also must verify applicants' citizenship status, check
identity documents such as birth certificates, and cross-check information
with other states and with Social Security, immigration and State Department
databases. The new licenses must include features to thwart forgery and
fraud, and drivers born after 1935 will have to present birth certificates
or passports to obtain them.

Supporters noted that all but one of the Sept. 11 hijackers acquired,
legitimately or by fraud, IDs that allowed them to board planes, rent cars
and move through the country.

Congress approved $40 million in grants to states to cover some of the
expenses this year. By comparison, the National Governors Association wants
$1 billion next year as a down payment for states' start-up costs.