[Infowarrior] - REAL ID getting scaled back possibly

[Richard Forno]

Administration Plans to Scale Back Real ID Law

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 14, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/13/AR2009061302036_pf.html

Yielding to a rebellion by states that refused to pay for it, the  
Obama administration is moving to scale back a federal law passed  
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that was designed to tighten  
security requirements for driver's licenses, Homeland Security  
Department and congressional officials said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants to repeal and  
replace the controversial, $4 billion domestic security initiative  
known as Real ID, which calls for placing more secure licenses in the  
hands of 245 million Americans by 2017. The new proposal, called Pass  
ID, would be cheaper, less rigorous and partly funded by federal  
grants, according to draft legislation that Napolitano's Senate allies  
plan to introduce as early as tomorrow.

The rebranding effort follows months of talks with the National  
Governors Association and poses political risk for Obama as well as  
Napolitano, a former NGA chairwoman who wants to soothe strained  
relations with the states without appearing to retreat on a  
recommendation by the 9/11 Commission.

Commissioners called for federal standards for driver's licenses and  
birth certificates, noting, "For terrorists, travel documents are as  
important as weapons." Eighteen of 19 terrorist hijackers obtained  
state IDs, some of them fraudulently, easing their movements inside  
the country.

But the Bush administration struggled to implement the 2005 law,  
delaying the program repeatedly as states called it an unfunded  
mandate and privacy advocates warned it would create a de facto  
national ID.

As governor of Arizona, Napolitano called Real ID "feel-good"  
legislation not worth the cost, and she signed a state law last year  
opting out of the plan. As secretary, she said a substitute would  
"accomplish some of the same goals."

Eleven states have refused to participate in Real ID despite a Dec. 31  
federal deadline.

"The department's goal is to fix, not repeal" Real ID, allowing all  
jurisdictions to comply by year's end, said a DHS official, who spoke  
on the condition of anonymity before a formal announcement.

"If the law cannot be implemented, it is hard to claim that it  
increases security," said David Quam, lobbyist for the NGA.

The new plan keeps elements of Real ID, such as requiring a digital  
photograph, signature and machine-readable features such as a bar  
code. States also will still need to verify applicants' identities and  
legal status by checking federal immigration, Social Security and  
State Department databases.

But it eliminates demands for new databases -- linked through a  
national data hub -- that would allow all states to store and cross- 
check such information, and a requirement that motor vehicle  
departments verify birth certificates with originating agencies, a bid  
to fight identity theft.

Instead, it adds stronger privacy controls and limits such development  
to a pilot program in Mississippi. DHS would have nine months to write  
new regulations, and states would have five years to reissue all  
licenses, with completion expected in 2016.

Supporters saw a slimmer measure as better than nothing. But critics  
said the changes gut the law, weakening tools to fight fraud and learn  
whether bad drivers, drug runners or counterfeiters have licenses in  
more than one state.

"Real ID, not a gutted version with a tough-sounding name, is  
necessary to continue to keep us safe," said Rep. Lamar Smith (Tex.),  
the ranking Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee. "Any  
attempt to repeal or weaken [Real ID] will harm national security."

The new plan would still let people get licenses with fake documents,  
said Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), who authored the 2005  
legislation. "We go right back to where we were on Sept. 10, 2001," he  
said, "Maybe governors should have been in the Capitol when we knew a  
plane was on its way to Washington wanting to kill a few thousand more  
people."

Pass ID also penalizes states that have spent millions to digitize  
their records, rewards laggards with federal funds and makes new  
requirements unenforceable, foes said.

For example, the new bill kills provisions that would have required  
the new IDs to board airplanes and that IDs that did not comply with  
the requirements feature a different color or design.

Meanwhile, privacy groups also objected, saying Real ID should just be  
killed.

"We don't want to end up with National ID Lite," said Chris Calabrese,  
counsel to the technology and liberty program at the American Civil  
Liberties Union.

Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian  
Cato Institute, said the plan is "a lot softer" but will still leave  
more Americans' personal data subject to theft and misuse.

Sens. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), the  
bill's sponsors, are seeking support from Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I- 
Conn.) and Susan Collins (Maine), the chairman and ranking Republican,  
respectively, on the Senate homeland security committee, and other  
centrist lawmakers. So far, no other Republicans have signed on.