Copyright 2001 Post-Newsweek Business Information, Inc.
Newsbytes
November 16, 2001, Friday
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.
Brian Krebs, Newsbytes. With popular support for a national identification
system gaining ground in the wake of Sept. 11, Congress once again is being
forced to debate an idea it has entertained and rejected numerous times
over the years.
At a House Government Reform subcommittee hearing on the matter today,
Ranking Democrat Janice Schakowsky, Ill., said Sept. 11 demonstrated that
a national ID system would not have stopped the terrorist attacks.
"The events of Sept. 11 show us that systems like national identification
cards will not deter the crazed terrorist from his or her mission," she
said. Indeed, the majority of the 19 known terrorists that took part in
the attacks were in the United States legally at least according to their
documents.
Yet several veteran lawmakers who were active when Congress last visited
the issue say now is the time to seize the moment as an opportunity to
strengthen the nation's existing forms of ID, particularly given that several
of the hijackers appear to have obtained entry into the country using forged
documents.
To that end, former Senate Majority Whip Alan Simpson told Congress
to scrap the idea of a national ID. Instead, Simpson said states and the
federal government should standardize and strengthen the most common forms
of ID including birth certificates, drivers' licenses, Social Security
cards, and to make them more tamper-resistant and counterfeit-proof.
Simpson noted, however, that Congress has been rebuffed on at least
four prior occasions when it tried to add biometric elements - such as
fingerprints to existing forms of ID, by civil liberties groups who compared
the idea to the branding of concentration camp victims in World War II.
"Every time we try to do something in this area, it's filled with emotion,
fear, guilt, and racism," Simpson told the subcommittee today. "You have
to do something, and that something is not any more intrusive than what
you get when you go into the (grocery) store and slide your (discount)
card."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich concurred, and said Congress should
pass a resolution urging states to add biometric identifiers to their drivers'
licenses, and to make that data available to law enforcement agencies at
the state and federal level.
When asked how such a system would differ from a national ID, Gingrich
said implementing the changes at the state level would be far less alarming
to the average citizen than implementing the system via federal government
fiat.
"Most people are comfortable going to the local DMV to get their driver's
license," Gingrich said. "This would be highly decentralized and controlled
by the states, and would minimize civil liberties concerns."
Gingrich urged the federal government to issue biometric-encoded IDs
to all legal immigrants, and to keep tabs on their movements using an enhanced
database operated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
Civil liberties groups, however, remain uneasy with the notion of a
national identifier, and worry that such a system would simply provide
a new tool for racial and ethnic profiling.
Katie Corrigan, legislative counsel to the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU), said a national identifier would create a false sense of
security and divert valuable resources away from other more effective counter-terrorism
efforts.
"At best, a national ID would serve as a placebo to make us all feel
better when we show the card at the airport, a turnpike booth, or at our
workplaces," Corrigan said.
Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at George Washington
University, said through the myriad databases at state DMV offices and
records based on consumers' Social Security numbers, the United States
already has a national identification system.
"The only question is whether we should create a more integrated and
uniform system," he said.
Turley told the subcommittee that there is a compelling basis for establishing
a biometric ID card system for certain groups, such as foreign nationals,
hazardous waste truckers, and researchers with access to materials such
as anthrax, for example.
"There is an increasing need for a more reliable form of identification,"
Turley said. "If Congress again remains passive, the market and governmental
agencies will respond in their own way to this need."
Still, Turley said Congress should act deliberately and recommended
the creation of a blue ribbon commission to study the privacy and security
concerns of such a system.
Most in attendance at today's hearing agreed that none of the scenarios
being discussed would work unless federal law enforcement agencies begin
sharing information with one another about individuals who represent a
potential national security threat.
As "Director of Homeland Security," former Pennsylvania Governor Tom
Ridge has been tapped as the Bush administration's point man for increasing
cooperation between the government's various intelligence agencies, including
the FBI, the INS and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Simpson said he was pleased that Ridge has been asked to help those
agencies get beyond their "absolute stubbornness to share information."
"I think that's what I hear the president saying, that he's going to
give Ridge the authority to do that," Simpson said. "Well, we've all been
here a long while, so Merry Christmas, Tom, we'll see what happens."
Reported by Newsbytes.com, <http://www.newsbytes.com> .
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