Signs of deal on new ID rules

Unless holdout states send a letter by the end of March seeking an extension, their residents no longer can use a driver's license as valid identification to board airplanes or enter federal buildings beginning in May, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has warned. They would have to present a passport or be subjected to secondary screening.

Only three states - Maine, Montana, and South Carolina - have not sought extensions or already started moving toward compliance. New Hampshire has asked to be exempted, but Homeland Security Department officials have not found the state's letter to be legally acceptable.

But on Friday, the agency granted Montana an extension even though state officials did not ask for one and insist they will not follow the law.

Chertoff has offered to phase in requirements over about 10 years. But with President Bush leaving office in January, a decision to move ahead with Chertoff's plan will rest with the next administration.

By 2014, according to the plan, anyone seeking to board an airplane or enter a federal building would have to present a Real ID-compliant card, except people older than 50, officials said. That exception would give states more time to get everyone new licenses, and officials say the threat from someone in that age is much less. By 2017, even people over 50 must have a Real ID-compliant card to board a plane.

Last week, five senators appealed to Chertoff to exempt all 50 states from the approaching deadline. Chertoff, in letters sent to the lawmakers Friday, said Congress had set the date when the law went into effect in 2005 and "I cannot ignore it."

Yet hours after Chertoff sent them, Assistant Secretary Stewart Baker told Montana's attorney general that the government would grant the state an extension even though it explicitly was not seeking one. Baker said the state's new license security measures met many Real ID requirements.

"I can only provide the relief you are seeking by treating your letter as a request for an extension," Baker wrote.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer said his state had not backed down.

The agency's approach to Montana could provide an easy way out for the remaining states to Real ID. It also suggests the government doesn't want to proceed with its plan for extra screening on residents of certain states.