March 22, 2009 12:20PM # DHS Officials Skirt Open Meeting Laws to Promote REAL ID By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE There’s not much chance that U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials went to Annapolis to argue *against* having Maryland implement the national ID law. Maryland’s *Gazette* [reports](http://www.gazette.net/stories/03202009/polinew194529_32484.shtml): > Federal homeland security officials skirted open meetings laws at a briefing last week on the state’s efforts to comply with the federal Real ID Act, unsettling several lawmakers in an era of heightened government transparency. A meeting with the Maryland House Judiciary Committee members and other lawmakers was carefully regulated to avoid reaching a quorum so open meeting rules could be avoided. Something is funny in the state of Maryland, and something is funny at the DHS, to insist on holding closed meetings about REAL ID during what President Obama promised would be the most open and transparent administration in history. Napolitano revealed early this month that she has been [collaborating with the National Governors Association](http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090303_7315.php) on REAL ID. Just what they plan also remains a secret. As governor of Arizona, [she signed legislation](http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special12/articles/0618real-id0618.html) to resist REAL ID, but politicians that come to Washington have a tremendous capacity to go native and start working to build federal power. There’s even [precedent](https://www.cato.org/2007/03/01/senator-susan-collins-supports-national-id/) for them working with the NGA to do it. ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).