Capitol Hill Briefing 

# Assessing the Options: REAL ID, PASS ID, or No National ID at All 

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Date and Time 

July 24, 2009 12:30 - 1:30 PM EDT 

Location 

B-354 Rayburn House Office Building 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring **Christopher Calabrese**, Counsel, Technology & Liberty Program, American Civil Liberties Union; **David E. Williams**, Vice President, Policy, Citizens Against Government Waste; and **Jim Harper**, Director of Information Policy Studies, Cato Institute. 

The introduction of a bill called the PASS ID Act in the Senate has renewed the debate about whether the United States should have a national ID. PASS ID purports to improve on the moribund REAL ID Act, but the central question is whether there should be a national ID at all. A national ID would cost billions of dollars, place sensitive identity documents into insecure databases, and give the federal government more control over Americans’ private lives. Join us for a discussion of the weaknesses that PASS ID and REAL ID share with any national ID system, and why diverse, competitive identity and credentialing systems are superior.

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