Plan to boost driver’s license security

July 16, 2009|Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The country needs driver’s licenses that are more secure to thwart terrorists, and a new Obama administration program supported by governors across the country would do that and save money, Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said yesterday.

If Congress agrees to modify one of the post-9/11 laws, the new secure license would replace the Bush administration’s proposed Real ID card with something called a Pass ID card.

Napolitano testified that the Bush administration program is unrealistic because it’s too expensive and that the technology necessary to validate the planned Real ID licenses is not available.

Bush’s Real ID plan has been stalled well short of nationwide implementation by opposition in the states. No state IDs have been certified as complying with the law.

Under Napolitano’s proposal, people would not need the new driver’s licenses to board planes.

Napolitano’s Pass ID would exempt the home addresses of victims of domestic violence or people in the witness protection program from being included on licenses. It also would not require that birth certificates be confirmed with the agency that issued them.