ARLINGTON COUNTY, Va., Dec. 28 (UPI) — In as little as four months, travelers in five states might not be able to board domestic flights unless they produce more than a drivers license to verify their identity — a prospect the Transportation Security Administration is expected to answer this week.
Since it took over airport security in 2002, the TSA has permitted fliers to board domestic flights with nothing more than a valid U.S. drivers license. The 9/11 terror attacks, though, eventually led Congress to pass a law mandating citizens undergo a tougher process to obtain one — a move intended to enhance national security.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, though, has yet to enforce the law. That may change in a matter of weeks.
The Real ID Act, passed in 2005, established a set of verification standards that states must impose and citizens must meet in the issuing of identification records, including drivers licenses. So far, only 22 states have complied with the law. Nineteen states have not fully complied, but have made enough progress to earn an extension — and four states are being reviewed for an extension.
The remaining five states — Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington — have been deemed ‘noncompliant’ — and it’s travelers in those states who may have to produce a passport for domestic travel, as early as late April.
“The purposes covered by the Act are: accessing Federal facilities, entering nuclear power plants, and, no sooner than 2016, boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft,” the TSA says on its website.
The DHS, which operates the TSA, said it will release an official schedule this week that specifies exactly if and when airports in noncompliant states will begin rejecting drivers licenses for domestic travel.
It’s unclear exactly what day the DHS will issue the schedule, but officials previously said it would come before the end of 2015, which looms Friday.
Some states have resisted implementing the tougher standards out of privacy concerns — and some have even passed laws barring motor vehicle departments from complying with the federal law.
“This is a game of intimidation being played out between Congress and the federal government and state governments, with ordinary citizens being squeezed in the middle,” privacy advocate Edward Hasbrouck told The New York Tmes.
Some experts wonder whether the TSA will actually enforce the law in 2016 since it has gone unenforced for 10 years and could create a host of potential problems for travelers.
For example, fliers under the enforced law may only need a drivers license to board a flight in their state — but would need another form of ID to return home if they travel to one of the five states that have yet to comply.
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