Cato has a commentary today discussing movement among state legislatures to resist the federal Real ID mandate. I’m fond of their comments on Idaho:
Idaho Representative Phil Hart, a Republican of Athol, has been leading the charge in his state. In mid-February, he convened a panel discussion in the Boise statehouse. One of the panelists was Bill Bishop, Director of the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security. You might think that a state homeland security official would support REAL ID. Bishop does not.
Bishop pointed out its weaknesses as a security tool. Even if it was possible to accurately nail down the identity of everyone in the country, we would be no better off in terms of preventing a terrorist attack. The 9/11 attackers, just like Timothy McVeigh before them, would have been able to get drivers’ licenses had REAL ID been the law when they struck.
“I don’t believe in the Easter Bunny, I don’t believe in Santa Claus, and I don’t believe in the Lone Ranger,” said Bishop, “which means I don’t believe in silver bullets.”
Also, if I’m not mistaken, Real ID doesn’t exactly do anything to prevent drivers license forgery, or forgery of foreign passports or identity documents.or even the porousness of our international borders which makes the “identify the bad guys to keep them out” philosophy rather moot.