Enforcing REAL ID at airports

In the coming weeks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will announce how REAL ID will be enforced at U.S. airports. The REAL ID Act, a 2005 anti-terrorism law, prohibits federal agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), from accepting driver’s licenses that do not meet certain standards. DHS will likely use a phased approach to enforcing the REAL ID Act at the airports. However, that strategy may result in more delays in REAL ID implementation at the cost of our nation’s homeland security.  

The goal of REAL ID is to make it more difficult for a bad actor to fraudulently obtain a driver’s license under an assumed or fictitious identity. Based on a 9/11 Commission recommendation, the REAL ID standards take a holistic view of the adjudication and issuance process to obtain a driver’s license. Source documentation must be verified with the issuing agency, motor vehicle employees must undergo background checks, and card stock must be kept in a secure location. Because of these standards and others, identity thieves face more barriers, have to take more steps, and assume more risks to penetrate the system.  

{mosads}In December 2013, DHS provided a schedule of enforcement of the REAL ID Act, starting with federal buildings and nuclear power plants, where it is currently enforced, and culminating at the airports in 2016. Regarding enforcement at the airports, DHS has said that there will be a 120 day notice period, and that it will not start in January or February, setting June as the earliest month to start enforcing REAL ID at the airports.  

Enforcement at the airports will likely occur similarly to how REAL ID is enforced at federal buildings: a phased enforcement starting with the least traveled airports. Enforcement would begin as early as June at small and non-hub airports, accounting for nearly 15 percent of all flights boarded in the United States. Following another four month notice period, enforcement would expand to medium sized airports in October, which would align with expiration date of extensions granted to the states this year. 

Because of the scale of the large top 30 airports, which account for over 70 percent of all flights boarded in the United States, enforcement will likely take effect in a series of additional phases. DHS could start with the 10 least busy airports, setting enforcement to occur in 2017, and then the rest of the top 20 airports later that year.  

From DHS’s perspective, this approach gives the states more time to repeal state legislation that prohibit compliance and implement the REAL ID standards, which could allay Congressional concerns regarding affected travel. When REAL ID is enforced at the airports, TSA will need a standardized process in place to allow travelers to board airplanes with noncompliant IDs. Such a process will require testing and refinement to ensure that other travelers are not adversely affected. Training will be required to educate screening personnel on what IDs to accept and what to reject. Additionally, because of the notices, travelers from noncompliant states will be more aware of the changes and have an opportunity to obtain alternative identification, such as a passport. Administration officials may also like this approach because the most impactful enforcement would take effect in 2017, when the next administration takes office. By that time, the number of states that would have secure extensions would have been enough to ensure little or no impact.  

The problem with this approach is that it adds further delays to REAL ID implementation. Given the current climate, there is an obvious need for more secure identification. It has been 8 years since the REAL ID Act final rule was published which is more than enough time to implement the standards. Additionally, states such as New Hampshire and Louisiana, rejected the REAL ID standards, should be subject to enforcement. 

TSA and several other federal agencies depend on the integrity of driver’s license to carry out their missions. The 9/11 Commission noted, “[a]t many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.” REAL ID meets that 9/11 Commission recommendation by requiring states to issue driver’s licenses that meet minimum standards. But further delays threaten the progress made and ultimately result in less security.

Meehan is policy director at Keeping IDentities Safe.