US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced today
that
states will be given an additional two years past the original May 11, 2008
deadline to comply with the directives of the controversial Real ID Act.
Originally enacted into law in 2005, the Act contains many contentious
directives, such as state agencies scanning of personal documents into a
nationally-accessible database, giving a uniform appearance to each state's
personal IDs, and implementing RFID tagging...
Let's be realistic -- this delay is designed to allow the next President to
make the final decision on Real ID. This way the current incumbent looks strong
for his constituency (and what he thinks his legacy should be), and his
replacement can then dismantle this offense against the privacy of the American
public.