A Right to False IDs?

Every time I fly and see a TSA agent studiously examining my driver license, I bite my tongue to avoid making one of those cracks that gets you into trouble. I happened to head a small study group, composed of security experts and privacy advocates. It determined that five years after 9/11 it is still easy for terrorists to get fake drivers licenses, and offered suggestions on what must be done to make them more reliable. Very few of the needed measures have been introduced so far. For instance, you still can get a driver license in as many states as you wish--one for you, and the rest for the bad guys. True, a handful of laws were passed to introduce Real IDs, but they still remain very much unreal.

How do I know? The Government Accounting Office recently repeated a test that caught my attention when I chaired a group that studied the matter as part of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. In the test, first conducted in 2002, GAO agents were able to enter the United States using counterfeit identification without being stopped, 25 out of 25 times. They entered through sea and land ports from Canada, walked through border crossings from Mexico, and arrived at airports from Jamaica. When this test was recently repeated, GAO testers were able to penetrate all the nine U.S. border crossings they checked. In three instances, border officials did not even ask to see identification. As a result, terrorists or criminals can "pass freely into the United States...with little or no chance of being detected," the GAO reported to Congress on August 2, 2006.

Poorly trained port security personnel and the rising influence among Islamic radical groups in the Caribbean basin were cited in a recent GAO report on possible threats along what in maritime circles is known as the US's "third border." The Caribbean Basin's geographic proximity to the United States has always made them into major transit centers for cocaine and heroin shipments bound for these shores; now there's a growing fear that the Caribbean would be a convenient transit station for terrorists as well. Among the chief problems cited was that poorly trained port security staff often failed to properly check the identities of those who enter our ports.

The 2005 Real ID Act stipulates that by 2008 all driver's licenses or equivalent IDs must include a machine-readable name, a digitized photograph, address, social security number, a digitized birth certificate and signature. The Real ID Act also requires states to verify Social Security numbers and legal presence in the US to get drivers' licenses or similar IDs beginning in 2008. However, so far no regulations have been posted for public commentary, an essential step. Moreover, a program officer has yet to be appointed, a significant element in realizing the promise of the Real ID act.

As of now, even very small scale attempts to introduce reliable means of identification for those who daily enter highly sensitive areas have been stymied. To gain some oversight of those who work in ports--lest they collaborate with terrorists--a program called Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) was supposed to be introduced on July 1 of this year. But, this deadline has come and gone, and the program still is far from installed. A study just released by the Homeland Security Inspector General shows that the proposed ID cards are riddled with "various internal and external security threats." Also the new cards were found to identify many as security risks who were not, and -- leak personal information. The TWIC program, which has already cost over $100 million, is now slated to be launched in one single port, and a relatively small one, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Meanwhile civil libertarians are up in arms to prevent progress on this front. When New York State started to use the Social Security database to ferret out those who obtained driver's licenses using false IDs, civil libertarians sued the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, alleging anti-immigrant motives. The courts found no merits in these claims but meanwhile progress has been stalled.

I agree with those who oppose a national ID card, which typically every citizen keeps on their person at all times, and which citizens are required to present on demand, even without having violated any laws or even traffic rules. However, when a person voluntarily seeks to enter a controlled area--whether it is the United States, an airline, select public buildings or ports--he or she should be expected to show a valid ID. Nothing in the Constitution suggests a right to a fake ID.