Ari Schwartz asked me to post this response to my post from earlier today:

Jim,

Thank you for offering me the opportunity to respond to your post today.

As always, I take your criticism of me and CDT seriously. However, I think that this time, in suggesting that CDT has no principles, you are letting your strong biases get in the way of offering Cato’s blog-reading public some of the facts.

1) CDT does not support a National ID system. Our testimony makes it clear that we believe that PASS ID prevents the creation of a National ID system — which is the opposite of creating one.

2) The fact that CDT and Cato disagree on this issue does not mean that CDT is unprincipled. CDT takes the issue of principles very seriously, as all civil liberties groups must.

Our first concern is always to remain true to these principles. Staying effective in Washington as a consensus-builder and doing so is a constant source of internal and external discussion at CDT. As you know, we are always willing to engage in private or public conversations with individuals who believe that we have not remained true to these principles — as you seem to in this instance. I believe that we can have a better dialog if we begin the discussion there.

Thanks,
Ari