Let's Get Real: The REAL ID Is Unnecessary and an Invasion of Privacy

The September 11 attacks in 2001 left an imprint on the American psyche that had not been as strong as the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. It ended up shaping how Americans perceive safety and what they were willing to give up for that feeling of safety. It is not only how we got the Patriot Act, but the REAL ID Act. What the REAL ID Act did was set minimum security standards for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards. 

The premise behind improving the accuracy and reliability of these identification documents was to make it more difficult to obtain fraudulent IDs and prevent terrorists from using them. Yes, the REAL ID Act was passed in 2005. The reason why I bring it up now in 2025? After multiple delays of the deadline, REAL ID is finally here, even though 17 states have less than 50 percent REAL ID compliance. 

Forget for a moment that all but one of the 9-11 hijackers had identification documents and were already in the United States legally. It has been over twenty years since September 11 and yet the United States has not had a terrorist attack remotely close to 9/11's impact since then. The country has been safe from catastrophic terrorists attacks without REAL ID, which was the whole impetus behind creating REAL ID. If the REAL ID were so crucial for the safety of air travelers, it should have been implemented by now. So why exactly do we need REAL ID? 

While it will not protect us from terrorists, REAL ID will certainly infringe upon the freedom of U.S. citizens. REAL ID acts as a de facto national database because it consolidates personal data into linked state databases. While it is not technically one large system, the linkage of the smaller databases make it act as if it were. Because it is a larger system with more data, it becomes more alluring for hackers and identity thieves. REAL ID makes it more harmful to national security by giving criminals another credential to opportunity. 

With all this information centrally accessible, do you think that the federal government is going to stop there? REAL ID is nothing more than an excuse for additional surveillance, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation correctly illustrates. An intuitive reason why REAL ID opens up such mass surveillance is because REAL ID makes the erroneous assumption that treats all citizens as potential terrorists until proven otherwise. In 2013, I expressed similar surveillance concerns with the NSA collecting metadata. Even then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff bragged about how REAL ID could be required for such activities as cashing a check or hiring a babysitter. Because that does not reek of mission creep at all!

Then there are the matters of applying a double standard to aviation versus rail, the constitutional issues with prohibiting interstate travel, foreign-born or lower-income individuals having additional hurdles to compliance, or enforcement costs. REAL ID does nothing substantive to improve national security while it results in a serious encroachment on privacy while hindering the right to travel. As such, REAL ID should not be going into effect--it should be abolished.