Will the USA Drivers License Finally Become an Official
National ID Card?
By Joe Naujokas, Naujokas & Associates
The National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 (passed in December, 2004) contains an amendment for establishing minimum Federal standards for State issued drivers licenses and associated personal ID cards, which I will refer here to as DL/PID.
The USA drivers license (DL) has a long history of being the preferred “government issued photo ID” when a person needs to prove identity for whatever reason, and has assumed a high degree of importance in the USA. So much so, that states long ago began issuing personal ID cards that look just like the drivers license for those who do not drive.
An effort to establish ANSI standards for DL/PID was started in 1996, but was finally abandoned in 2002 when an impasse was reached on implementing mag stripe technology. The States wanted to continue to use Track 3. But retailers, represented by National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and FDR (card personalization company), did not want to saddle the retailers with the expense of replacing their POS terminals to read Track 3.
NACS has claimed responsibility for adding a requirement at the last minute for machine-readable standards to include the minimum data elements. NACS has long desired such a feature to be able to capture data proving that items such as alcohol, tobacco and firearm products were not sold to underage persons.
The law does not define the machine readable technology but requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee to define the specific minimum requirements for all aspects of the drivers license/personal ID. The law requires the committee to be made up of:
Regulations for negotiated rulemaking suggest the number of committee members appointed by the DOT be no greater than 25, but it allows further members if required. Prospective member organizations can apply for a seat on the committee by submitting appropriate information indicating the need for their interest in the outcome of the regulations and the name of the person who would represent the organization.
The DOT has 18 months to establish the regulations, which includes six months for public comment and resolution of comments. The deadline for implementation by the States is left to the Department of Transportation in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security.
The minimum data elements to be contained on the DL/PID are the usual: name, address, gender, birth date, ID number and signature, as well as ample card security features to guard against fraud. The new law also requires a digital photo. Most importantly, it also requires minimum standards to be set for security of the process of obtaining the DL/PID, including the security of required documents (commonly referred to as breeder documents) for a DL/PID.
The States have the option to “opt out,” but if they do, their DL/PID cannot be used to access Federal Government Services, such as boarding airplanes. Now this isn’t exactly a national ID, but it places DL/PID one huge step closer to being one. The new law does not require that citizens must produce a federally approved ID upon request, except “…by a Federal agency for any official purpose.” Not being able to do so, when requested by other authorities, will no doubt place a citizen under suspicion. So, I think this will eventually morph into a national ID by default.
As for the machine readable technology, I expect that the states will prefer PDF 417, which they already use extensively. The retailers will probably prefer at least mag stripe (Tracks 1 & 2, only thank you!) and the federal government will probably prefer a contactless IC card to be compatible with the new ePassport and the National Institute for Standards and Technology’s (NIST) newly proposed interoperability standard. It is also possible that the Federal Government may want the ID number to be in OCR format for compatibility with existing passport readers.
I expect it will be the first three technologies and possibly OCR as a fourth. The states will probably grumble about the cost, but the new law promises grants to assist the States in implementation.
The law specifically prohibits the Federal Government from establishing eligibility criteria that states use for issuing individual DL/PID. However, I think that minimum requirements for breeder documents may effectively eliminate illegal aliens from applying for DL/PIDs.Privacy advocates and libertarians may squawk and howl about the new DL/PID law actually being a “National ID Card” law. I think the horse is out of the barn and can’t be stopped. What do you think?