TSA Will Require “Real ID” with Background Checks to Board All Commercial Flights Next Year

On May 11, 2005, exploiting Americans’ fear of terrorism after 9/11, Congress and the Bush administration enacted the Real I.D. Act in the name of national security. (See “National ID card for every American“)

Real I.D. is an effective National ID card. All 50 constituent States in America are required to federalize their driver’s licenses by making them conform to national federal standards. Even non-drivers will be issued an ID card, thereby putting the lie to Real ID being just a driver’s license. That ID card contains all sorts of information on you which are entered into a national database and accessible and shared by the 50 state authorities. The information includes:

Information that’s on your driver’s license now: birthdate and address;
Your Social Security number;
Proof of citizenship or immigration status;
Reportedly, biometric security features and RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips.

This is Nevada’s Real ID card — an “enhanced” driver’s license. The star in a gold circle in the top right indicates DMV has “checked out” your background.

After a yearlong period of deferred enforcement, implementation of Phase 1 of the Real ID Act began on January 20, 2014, with at least 21 states now fully compliant. There are four planned phases, three of which apply to areas that affect relatively few U.S. citizens—e.g., DHS headquarters, nuclear power plants, and restricted and semi-restricted federal facilities.

Phase 4 applies to boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft. The TSA recently announced that Phase 4, requiring a Real ID to board domestic flights, will be implemented in a year — by 2016.

Activist Post reports, Feb. 1, 2015, that by then, the Real IDs will have already performed extensive background checks on everyone who receives them and will feature stars and other markings to indicate good behavior. No word on markings for troublemakers.

Since its inception, civil liberties advocates have had concerns that those without these intrusive new IDs will be excluded from basic human rights like working or traveling. The KTVN news report below appears to confirm this agenda.

KTVN reporter Ellen Breen states that by July 2016, Nevadans must present either a passport or a Real ID card to board a commercial airplane.

“It’s a choice,” says Nevada DMV official David Fierro, “you don’t have to get a Real ID card, but if you want to get on an airplane after 2016, you’re going to have to have a Real ID card.”

Nevada’s Real ID card looks like a regular driver’s license but with a white star in a gold circle the top right corner. The star indicates the DMV has checked out your background.

Welcome to 1984!