July 2, 2009 8:43AM 

# Calling Secretary Napolitano: Arizona to Reject EDLs 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been all over the map on national ID issues. As governor of Arizona, she signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bush DHS to implement “enhanced driver’s licenses” in her state. These are licenses with long-range RFID chips built into them. But then she turned around and signed legislation barring implementation of the REAL ID Act in Arizona.

Now, having taken federal office, she again [favors REAL ID](http://fcw.com/articles/2009/06/26/napolitano-pass-id-bill-real-id.aspx) — or at least under [its new name](https://www.cato.org/2009/06/17/is-the-real-id-revival-bill-pass-id-a-national-id/): PASS ID. (Her [efforts to put distance](https://www.cato.org/2009/02/20/napolitano-scrap-real-id/) between REAL ID and PASS ID have [not borne fruit](https://www.cato.org/2009/04/23/and-replace-it-with-real-id/).)

In some respects, [PASS ID](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_SN_1261.html) is worse than REAL ID. It would give congressional approval to the “enhanced driver’s license” program — invented by DHS and State Department bureaucrats to do long-range (and potentially surreptitious) identification of people holding this type of card. Back home, the Arizona legislature has just [passed a bill](http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/49leg/1r/bills/hb2426o.asp) to prohibit the state from implementing EDLs.

So the former governor of Arizona, who has both supported and rejected national ID programs, now supports a bill to approve the national ID program her home state rejects. Napolitano seems to be taking the national ID tar baby in a loving embrace.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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