Obama administration to inherit a real mess on Real ID

Computerworld - As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take the reins in Washington, it remains unclear how his administration will deal with the controversial Real ID national identification standards put in motion by predecessor George W. Bush.

Thus far, Obama himself has made almost no public comments about the Real ID initiative, which calls for driver's licenses and other state-issued IDs to include digital photos and be machine-readable so the information on them can be captured by scanning devices. And on the one occasion in which Obama had an opportunity to vote on an issue related to the Real ID Act in the Senate, he didn't cast a ballot.

Meanwhile, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Obama's choice to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — the agency responsible for implementing the Real ID rules — previously signed a bill barring her state from participating in the program. Given that fact, it's uncertain how effective she would be in pushing for adoption of Real ID in her expected new role or if she would even be inclined to do so in the first place.

The Real ID Act was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2005 as part of the government's effort to combat terrorism. But the law has evoked widespread criticism from privacy advocates and civil rights groups, which say it would create a de facto national identity card system that would be hard to manage and even harder to secure. Even a DHS advisory committee voiced reservations about the Real ID effort last year because of privacy, security and logistical concerns.

Over the past two years, Real ID has also become a bone of contention between the DHS and state governments that see it as an attempt by federal officials to force unwanted ID standards down their throats, while also making the states pay for the program. Several states have joined Arizona in refusing to participate, with the list including Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Washington.

"I don't think anybody in the next administration, including Napolitano, wants to deal with Real ID. It's a real stinking mess," said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based public-policy research organization with libertarian leanings. "Most likely, they will find the quietest way they can to get it off their plates."

Other provisions in the Real ID law require participating states to store digital images of IDs for seven to 10 years and for their driver's license databases to be linked to essentially create a single large system with shared access. There's no mandate that states issue Real ID cards. But under the law, all citizens will eventually need ID cards that comply with the Real ID requirements in order to board planes, enter federal buildings and receive benefits from the federal government.