Real ID Program Postponed
By NICOLE GAOUETTE
Los Angeles Times

Under siege from states and angry lawmakers, the White House moved back a deadline Thursday to implement national driver’s license standards known as Real ID.

The announcement that states have an extra 20 months, until the end of 2009, to meet the requirements of the Real ID Act did little to ease criticism of the law from privacy advocates, motor vehicle departments and lawmakers. Almost two dozen states, including New Hampshire, are weighing legislation to oppose Real ID.

The resistance to a policy the administration calls an essential weapon in the war on terror reflects a shift from the almost total support the administration initially enjoyed for its national security agenda after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“In the months after Sept. 11, we adopted a ‘do anything, do everything’ mode,” said Jim Harper, a public policy expert at the libertarian Cato Institute who advises the Department of Homeland Security and opposes the act. “Here with five-plus years behind us, now it’s time to look at what does work and what doesn’t and lift the veil of secrecy.”

Delayed implementation would not resolve the privacy and security concerns that Real ID raises, said Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Essentially, we’ve just kicked the can down the road another two years,” he said. Real ID Card Postponed to 2009 - Should we Celebrate not yet, until we put a stop to it.

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