Tacoma, Washington’s News Tribune has editorialized about the REAL ID Act in a way that will be unfamiliar to followers of the national ID law and its implementation. The state has been “dawdling,” it says, by not moving forward on the national ID. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been “patient to a fault” and “dispensed grace” to the 28 states (NT’s number) that have escaped federal punishment. Next we’ll be told that the federal government is efficient and responsive.
If you’re just tuning in, last fall DHS began a major, concerted effort to bring state governments in line with the provisions of the REAL ID Act, a federal law designed to create a national ID system. Washington State has resisted this federal power-grab up over the last decade, but Senator Curtis King (R) recently introduced legislation that would bring Washington into compliance. This threatens Washingtonians privacy and liberty.
Passed in 2005, the REAL ID Act is a federal law designed to coerce states into adopting uniform standards for driver’s licenses and non-driver IDs. Compliance would also require the Washington State Department of Licensing to share drivers’ personal data and documents with departments of motor vehicles across the country through a nationwide data sharing system. If fully implemented, REAL ID would create a de facto national ID card administered by states for DHS. The back-end database system the law requires would expose data about drivers and copies of basic documents, such as birth certificates and Social Security cards, to hacking risks and access by corrupt DMV employees anywhere in the country.