Across the country, state legislatures have objected to, and outright rejected, the national ID and surveillance mandate imposed on them by the REAL ID Act. Passed in May 2005 with a compliance deadline three years later, the law has never been implemented. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly threatened to deny air travel to people from the states refusing compliance, then backed down when states have not caved to its demands.


But state legislatures are one thing. State‐​level bureaucrats are quite another. And they are hedgehogging along, positioning their states to implement the national ID law.


Writes Alan Greenblatt in State Legislatures magazine:

In a number of states, motor vehicle departments are doing the behind‐​the‐​scenes work necessary to move closer to compliance, including updating computer systems, installing face‐​recognition software and setting up more secure card production rooms.… [E]very state is moving toward compliance. Even in the 14 states where legislatures have explicitly rejected REAL ID through laws or resolutions, some moves have been made in the direction of compliance.

Politicians come and go, but the bureaucrats are in it for life. And they can grow their portfolio be building a national ID.