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Cato Daily Dispatch for March 30, 2005

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National ID Cards Not the Solution
Arizona Adds Border Agents
Iran Not Seen as Nuclear Threat

National ID Cards Not the Solution

"I still detest the idea of a government ID card. South Africa's experience is a grim reminder of how such documents can be abused," writes U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in the Washington Post. "But I'm afraid this is one of the ways September 11 has changed our lives. Instead of pretending we are not creating national ID cards when we obviously are, Congress should carefully create an effective federal document that helps prevent terrorism -- with as much respect for privacy as possible."

In The Cato Handbook on Policy, Timothy Lynch and Jim Harper write that in the wake of September 11, 2001, every policy proposal should be carefully examined for effectiveness and consistency with our values and freedoms.

"A national or uniform ID system offers less protection at greater cost to freedom than it appears to. Verifying identity is just one, fallible, way of attempting to secure transportation systems and infrastructure. A national or uniform ID system would be a small but significant step toward future impingements on freedom, including mandates that all Americans carry identity cards at all times, the creation of an internal passport system, and government tracking of individuals' travels and financial transactions.

"Congress should not hastily enact any proposal simply because it is packaged as an 'anti-terrorism' measure. Rather, it should encourage market solutions that allow people and institutions to choose how identity is to be established and how people's suitability for access to transportation systems, buildings, military bases, and other infrastructure is to be determined. The happenstance that nearly everyone carries a driver's license is not a sound basis for federally mandated or unified identity cards."

Arizona Adds Border Agents

"As hundreds of civilian 'Minuteman' volunteers prepare to monitor a 20-mile stretch of Arizona's border with Mexico, the federal Department of Homeland Security will announce plans today to send more than 500 additional agents to patrol the state's remote southern border," according to USA Today. "The 25 percent increase in Border Patrol agents in Arizona is the second phase of a buildup that began a year ago. It's part of an effort to stem the flow of illegal immigrants crossing the state's notoriously porous 370-mile border and to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country."

"Our immigration laws desperately need reform," writes director of Cato's Center for Trade Policy Studies Daniel Griswold in "Immigration: Beyond the Barbed Wire." "Simply throwing more money and manpower at the problem hasn't worked. Since the early 1990s, we've quintupled spending and tripled personnel at the Mexican border. ... One unintended consequence has been a deadly diversion of migration from a few urban entry points to more sparsely populated regions such as the Arizona border.

"...Our existing immigration system is out of step with the realities of American life. Our economy continues to produce opportunities for low-skilled workers in important sectors such as retail, services, construction, and tourism. Meanwhile, the pool of Americans willing and happy to fill those jobs continues to shrink as the average American worker grows older and becomes better educated. Yet our immigration system has no legal channel for workers from Mexico and other countries to come to the United States even temporarily to fill those jobs. The result is widespread illegal immigration."

Iran Not Seen as Nuclear Threat

"Almost six out of 10 adults in Britain, France and Germany say that Iran does not pose a nuclear threat to Europe, according to the findings of a new CNN/TIME poll," reports CNN.com. "Iran says its nuclear program is nothing for the world to fear and will only be used to generate much-needed electricity. But Washington and the EU fear Iran could use its nuclear plants to produce bombs."

In "Iran: Isolation or Engagement?" Charles Peña, director of defense policy studies at the Cato Institute, writes, "Iran is considered a long-standing nemesis. But that doesn't automatically make it a grave threat."

Peña continues: "Efforts to convince the Iranians to give up their quest for nuclear weapons should not be abandoned, but success in that long-shot strategy cannot be the only acceptable outcome. Other options must be explored, such as how to limit the size and scope of Iran's nuclear weapons program and arsenal so that it is not a direct threat to the U.S., and ensuring that weapons, materials, and technology are not transferred to terrorists."

Holiday Dmitri, editor, hdmitri@cato.org