On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security released updated information regarding the national identification card known as the REAL ID. Beginning January 22, 2018, all airline passengers will need identification cards that are in compliance with the more secure features required by the REAL ID Act of 2005. The REAL ID Act was passed in response to the 9/11 attacks, as part of the global War on Terror.
Until this deadline, all states drivers licenses and passports will be valid for airline travel. Currently, five states and one territory – Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington and American Samoa – do not comply with Real ID standards. Several other states are reportedly taking steps to update their identification cards between now and the deadline. These standards include invasive biometric measures.
Travelers in states that do not comply with the stricter security measures will be forced to use an alternative form of identification recognized by the Transportation Security Administration. These options include a permanent resident card, an airline-issued identification or a tribal identification.
Most unnerving of all is the fact that the REAL ID requirements extend to driving privileges in addition to airline travel. That’s right. If your state driver’s license does not meet REAL ID standards, you will need to carry another acceptable form of identification, and likely will not be able to legally drive.
When announcing the new guidelines, Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security, offered a firm call to states that would dare challenge the federal government’s plan. “Over the next two years, those states that are not REAL ID compliant are strongly encouraged to meet the requirements of the law for the benefit of their residents,” Johnson told USA Today.
Jonathan Grella, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs at the U.S. Travel Association, told USA Today that the new guidelines are welcome because “growing misinformation was not helping anyone.” Grella also said, “Striking the correct balance between security and convenience is not and should not be a zero-sum policymaking game.”
There are currently 23 states complying with REAL ID. Twenty-seven states and territories have been granted extensions to comply with the rule changes. For a full list of the compliant states and the various deadlines, please see this link.
Despite the more restrictive measures, the TSA admits you can fly without a valid form of identification. I have personal experience flying without ID, and can say that despite the “victory” of flying without the intrusive REAL ID (or identification in general), the alternative is equally frustrating.
When you arrive at the airport without an identification card, TSA agents might ask you to fill out a form with your name and current address. More than likely, they will ask you a number of pesky questions, like, “What was the name of the elementary school you went to?” When I was undergoing this line of questioning, the TSA officer assigned to me was on the phone with someone evidently formulating the questions. When I asked who he was speaking to, he informed me it was DHS. Once I answered all the questions, I was free to fly without additional harassment.
The history of the implementation of the REAL ID Act has been plagued with controversy and resistance from the public, politicians, and civil liberty advocates. Quite simply, this identification card is just another step towards a technocratic control grid wielded by power-hungry politicians who have little interest in stopping terrorism, but rather, controlling and dominating the population at large. It will be interesting to see which states stand their ground against the federal government — and which ones cower in fear.
Each of us has to decide what we are willing to accept in order to participate in airline travel. Perhaps for some, it is less time-consuming to simply update your identification card to comply with the proper REAL ID security measures. Others may feel strongly about their principles and will willingly accept extra harassment if it means not obtaining a national identification card. If you choose this route, be aware the process is extensive. I would recommend arriving even earlier than you typically might.
For many of the awakened hearts and minds across America, this represents a breaking point. Will we be forced to accept the latest attack in a long line of affronts on our privacy and freedom of movement? Will we stand strong together and find ways to fight back against the increasingly tyrannical demands of the United States government?
I know where I stand. How about you?
Also Read:
New Yorkers Without “Enhanced” ID Could Face Travel Restrictions From Homeland Security
This article (A National ID Card Is Coming Soon — and You Will Need It to Fly and Drive) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Derrick Broze and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email [email protected].
RON PAUL fought this….too bad we didn’t elect him
Actually people DID elect him.
But unfortunately other people counted the votes (even the ones that were not on the electronic voting machines).
In the words of Bolshevik Dictator Iosef Stalin: “Those who cast the votes mean nothing. But those count the votes mean everything”.
And this same intrusive ‘group’ now pushing for ‘Real ID’ and virtual control over an awakening public are Neo Bolsheviks. Addicted to absolute control over the masses.
We are living in Bolshevik Communist America – same Khazar Zionist banking group are our oppressors…as soon as they can effectively confiscate guns they will begin the slaughter of 10s of millions … Same old playbook .
Instead of the US of A it has become the US of SR
Hasn’t this been in the making for many years now? Study history, it repeats itself, really it does. I’m old enough to have watched it do that very thing.
CONTROL is what we’re now headed for, in government as well as in our religion.
Unless of course you count voting with bullets. Political force issues forth from the muzzle of a gun barrel. Chairman Mao said that, but that’s just because he read what Jefferson and Washington had repeated over and over to the American people. Seems the have forgotten their own history.
That may well be true. I have heard it’s all crooked and rigged up. It’s who they want, not who we the people voted for. I heard it doesn’t do any good to go vote, it’s like a coin…one side Republican and the other side Democrat…however you drop it.
Let’s see, I guess the National IE Cards will also be fabricated in Mexico City and capital cities in Central America and the Middle East.
American prisoners will probably be making them, right next to the license plate factory.
I am just about tired of the nanny federal government making us all jump through hoops and then tell us how high they want us to jump while we are at it It has gone way past time for people to stand up and be counted
I believe that’s coming and it may be why the authorities will have to call Martial law to calm down the masses of people who are tired of the tyranny.
“Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington and American Samoa – do not comply with Real ID standards. Several other states are reportedly taking steps to update their identification cards between now and the deadline. These standards include invasive biometric measures.”
This means 45 state id cards (like driver’s) already meet the standards, and these do NOT include “invasive biotmetric measures.” My CAli driver’s license, according to this article complies with the Real ID standards…and it does not have biometric measures!
California requires a thumb print and high resolution photograph. Those are biometric features.
It’s time people got busy organizing mass meetings to burn their Real ID cards for the TV cameras the way it was done in the 60s with draft cards. Also, one wonders what the airlines might have to say about it if their business collapses from lack of passengers. Would Americans do that? I don’t know. But it’s time to form organizations and be prepared for massive card-burnings and civil disobedience. Time appears to be short. Maybe organizations could arise from this year’s campaign organizations. I wouldn’t have the faintest idea of how to organize such things, but plenty of people do. And I suspect somebody will. Look at the Oregon bird sanctuary thing. The time is ripe.
Aren’t those government overreach Oregon guys the same ones saying President Obama isn’t keeping us safe?
No idea. I don’t own a TV set and don’t listen to the radio, etc. I am “all in” with the People’s Medium–the internet–and I haven’t followed that story at all. I know something is happening, but I’m not sure what. Lots of propaganda about. Hard to know what to believe.
Oklahoma has the biometric eye scan now and has to my knowledge at least 4 yrs into this practice. It is very invasive. I moved out of state just a yr. after getting them and moved to a state that does not-yet! MOVED TO KANSAS
It’s not a federal ID card. It’s a state’s driver’s license with proper info. NYS has them for years now – there is nothing “intrusively biometric” about it. Nice alarmist phrase there, tho. Strong work.
It’s a state ID that conforms to Federal and international demands.
big whoop. its not a federal id card, and calling it that wont make it so.
if it has a high def photo of you and your signature, then it’s by definition biometric info. how intrusive it is would be relative to the situation.if someone at the store glances at your driver license pic and signature,that might not be considered intrusive. if they use face recognition and handwriting analysis software and accumulate info from it,I’d call that intrusive.
If the Republican House and Senate allow this to happen, it proves our government is nothing but unicameral and one party.
It is neither the d-word party against the r-word party nor the r-word party against the d-word party. It is both the d-word party and r-word party against us having a Limited Constitutional Republic and therefor against the people.
They’ve been proving that since Ayatoilet Obama was installed. Let’s give the “supremes” some “credit”, too. He gotten everything he’s wanted from them as well, though some were close votes, wink, wink.
Flip a coin as I heard it doesn’t matter. Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other, so wherever it happens to drop. Like you say ONE size fits all-one party.
Not even sure why this is being talked about like it is a done deal, some of the states are fighting it, not to mention that the sh*t is going to hit the fan, who knows what this country will look like or turn out to be after that~
Article IV Section 2 Clause 1. Fact of the matter is, unless you are a commercial driver, the Constitution forbids them regulating your travel. And forcing a national ID in order to drive or fly is violating that right. Your right to travel freely without molestation is guaranteed, and several SCOTUS cases hold that ruling.
9/11 When the planes were flown into the towers I thought why didn’t the Sky Marshalls stop them like they did in the 60’s. Well its turns out the gobmint in its infinite wisdom got rid of the Sky Marshalls. It was the musilm hijackings of aircraft of the 60’s that the gobmint created the Sky Marshalls. A couple years of no more plane hijackings the gobmint thought it was over for good……..the muzzies have been attacking the US forever that’s never gunna stop……..but now that obie has opened the border for them to join us they just might, maybe behave, neah never happen. So now that illegals have a drivers license the old deal of that license being legal ID is over.
Time to get the fire pit in the backyard nice and toasty to host a National ID card burning party.
Taxation without representation. No voting is no democracy. Ignore them. We make the laws and if the people we elect are stabbing us all in the back then we have to start voting for people who won’t.
This more or less is already happening, and it seems innevitable, even if the tracking chips are put into cards, you could still be tracked by other means altough this certainley will make it easier.
Don’t vote, it’s rigged. They SELECT who will be president of their US Corporation, just like McDonalds votes and selects who will be their CEO, CFO, etc. They make you think your vote counts. THEY determine who you can vote for (by giving you a choice between a or b, but they are 2 sides of the same coin) and then in the end they SELECT who they already decided to be the next President etc. Don’t play their games. No participation means this nonsense fades away. Also learn what it means to DRIVE vs TRAVEL. Many good youtube videos. You do not need a drivers license, car registration, inspection, or insurance. I wouldn’t travel without car insurance, but it’s your call. Look up The Great Deception on Youtube. Educate yourself! Namaste (the light in me salutes the light in you)