Let's get Real

A key feature of modern society is the widespread presence of tangible proofs of identity, such as driver’s licenses and other government-issued IDs.

Our need for these documents is clear. Modern life consists of countless interactions among strangers and to guard against the dishonest or dangerous ones, it helps to have concrete evidence of who we all are.

But just as we need these documents to verify people’s identity, so must we verify the documents themselves. From potential terrorists trying to gain access to critical infrastructure, to illegal immigrants aiming to get jobs and stay in this country, to con men wanting to steal our identity, there are plenty of individuals who are obtaining these documents illegally or creating bogus ones.

Given this threat, the case for more secure forms of identification is compelling indeed. The 9/11 Commission recommended it; Congress has mandated it; the American people overwhelmingly support it; and now, my department has taken a big step forward toward achieving it.

In accordance with the REAL ID Act of 2005, yesterday we unveiled a set of uniform standards to help our states advance this national imperative.

Under these new standards, driver’s license applicants must furnish documentary proof of who they are and that they’re here legally. States must verify that the documents are legitimate, issue REAL ID licenses that are tougher to tamper with or counterfeit, and work together to prevent people from receiving licenses from multiple states. Department of Motor Vehicles offices must protect their operations and databases from identity theft and other nefarious activities.

Many states are already taking steps to secure identification and we will grant extensions for REAL ID implementation to those who need them and are making genuine progress.

To help defray the states’ implementation costs, we’re making $360 million available -- $80 million in dedicated REAL ID grants and $280 million in general homeland security funding. We’ve cut these costs by almost three-quarters by extending the enrollment deadline three years -- to December 2017 -- for Americans who will be 50 years of age or older as of December 2014.

As a result, the average cost increase for issuing a REAL ID license will be just $8 per person, or just $2 a year. For most Americans, that’s a price worth paying to secure our identity documents. But for a vocal minority, led by the ACLU and like-minded groups, it is not. Rather than an urgent necessity, they depict secure identification as an egregious violation of privacy.

Their position defies both logic and consistency. Have ACLU officials ever objected publicly to the presence of driver’s licenses and other ubiquitous forms of identification? Of course they haven’t. How then can they protest against every effort to secure these documents from fraud and falsification? Do they support insecure identification?

Privacy is indeed at stake here, but it’s the ACLU and their allies who pose the greatest threat to it. Without REAL ID, Americans will remain vulnerable to one of the most egregious privacy violations of all – identity theft.

Under our plan, the new licenses that States issue in 2011 will have to comply with REAL ID security standards.

Michael Chertoff