Why the ‘Real ID’ is Really Important.

by Alex Zemek

Less than a year from now, on October 1, 2020, every U.S. passenger seeking to a board a domestic flight will require a REAL ID-compliant identification card. Millions of Americans already have these cards, particularly in states that were early adopters to the 2005 Real ID Act legislation, such as Georgia and Colorado which have over 90% of their population with these more secure means of identification. However, many people still remain unaware of the impending enforcement date or due to their state’s tardiness in becoming compliant, they might not yet had a chance to bring appropriate documentation to their local DMV to receive a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.

Hours after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, smoke billows from the remnants of the Twin Towers, where over 2,600 were killed earlier that fateful day. Photo by A. Zemek

With the recent 18th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, I think it is important to remember the origin of the REAL ID legal requirement. Back on that fateful day, I was a young stock trader on Wall Street and witnessing those horrific events shaped my life but also gave me greater purpose in my career and work that I do. Since 9/11, I have had a variety of intelligence and national security related jobs, and I am familiar with the history and objectives of the REAL ID program. The 9/11 Commission Report identified that the terrorists were able to easily procure driver’s licenses without appropriate credentials or documentation. Acquisition of these driver’s licenses assisted the terrorists in renting cars and other necessary activities involved in their terrorist plot, and ultimately permitted them to board flights AA11, UA175, AA75, and UA93. This vulnerability prompted the Committee’s recommendation (reference page 390) that stated: “Secure identification should begin in the United States. The federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as drivers licenses. Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft. At 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.”

While the report was finished in 2004 and REAL ID Act passed in 2005, the compliance and enforcement dates established in 2008 during the Bush Administration were extended two times during the Obama Administration, which in December 2014 established the current October 1, 2020 enforcement date. For those who are not yet familiar with REAL IDs; this effort does not create a national ID card, a Federal database of driver information, nor new Federal access to state data, but does require presentation and verification of certain documents and establish certain standards for card issuance, production, and design. While enforcement is at the federal level for aspects such as entering certain federal buildings, nuclear power plants, or for domestic air travel, the responsibility rests with each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 5 territories for issuance and implementation. Congress did appropriate grant money to the states to assist in their implementation efforts. While all that money has been spent, states are permitted to use up to twenty percent of their annual homeland security funds to assist in REAL ID execution.

Sample REAL ID compliant license, note the gold star in corner.

As perhaps exemplified best by his enforcement of existing immigration laws, President Trump has been a law and order leader. The seriousness in which the Trump Administration takes threats to national security certainly appears to have helped in gaining compliance from states. In the twelve years between 2005 and the end of the Obama Administration in January 2017, only 26 states/territories had gained compliance; during the less than 3 years of Trump Administration that number has approximately doubled with 51 states or territories now issuing compliant IDs.

While it is hard to know if the entire age 18 and older air traveling population will get REAL IDs prior to the enforcement date, there are alternatives that TSA will accept. Even after the enforcement deadline, U.S. citizens can always use their U.S. passport/passport cards, and federal employees and military service members can use their Personal Identity Verification/Common Access Card cards, and certain states (i.e., Washington State, New York State, Minnesota, Michigan, Vermont) offer enhanced drivers licenses that can additionally serve as a low-cost, convenient alternative to a passport for entering the United States from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean through a land or sea port of entry.

Going back to work, nearly a week after the attacks, my office building hazed in the smoke that lingered for weeks and a burning smell for months. Photo by A. Zemek

I know many of us wish we could go back to the apparent innocence of the pre-9/11 world. I remember recalling, while I made my way to my company’s trading floor when the stock market re-opened on Monday, September 17, 2001, how vulnerable many facilities were in terms of identification and credentialing. Our trading floor did not even have badges and I had to utilize my business card as verification of my office location at 50 Broad Street to get past the heightened security outside the New York Stock Exchange. So if over the next year, you find yourself making an extra trip to your state’s DMV to get a REAL ID, at least you now should know why it is really important.

The author endured the attacks of 9–11 while a securities trader on Wall Street and has served in a variety of national security positions over the last 18 years.