From: Eugene Leitl (eugene@liposome.genebee.msu.su)
Date: Thu Jul 02 1998 - 06:17:01 MDT
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[ leary-l ]
National ID card on the fast track
Transportation Department already making up rules
By
David M. Bresnahan
A WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Like it or not, the day is fast approaching when every American will
carry a national identification card. Those who do not have one will
be denied many basic services.
Little notice was given to the issue in 1996 when Congress passed the
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. One
section of the act requires all states to make their driver's licenses
comply with certain guidelines found in Section 656 (b) of the act.
Federal agencies will be required to prohibit the use of state
driver's licenses beginning Oct. 1, 2000, unless they comply with the
federal standards. The new licenses must use the Social Security
number as the driver's license number, for example.
The act also calls for digitized biometric information to be a part of
each license, or "smart card." This information will not be required
initially. But later, the biometric information will include
fingerprints, retina scans, DNA prints, and other similar information.
Responsibility for the design and implementation of the cards has been
given to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the
Department of Transportation. That agency has recently published the
proposed "Driver's License/SSN/National Identification Document,"
which contains the guidelines which must be in force by Oct. 1,
2000. The "Notice of Proposed Rule Making" sets out the standards for
each state to follow in the design of "identification documents."
"These new National ID regulations violate every notion of federalism,
because they force states to comply with regulations issued by the
federal government without any constitutional authority to do so,"
says Patrick Poole of the Free Congress Foundation. "Nor are federal
agencies empowered to force state to gather detailed information on
every person in order to comply with federal mandates. The net result
of the DOT's regulations is to establish a national ID system, which
has been opposed by almost every non-governmental sector for the past
five decades."
Shortly after the passage of the act by congress, Utah state Rep.
Gerry A. Adair introduced a bill to comply with the federal
requirements. The level of opposition from the public was extensive,
which Adair said at the time surprised him. The bill was defeated and
was regarded as one of the most controversial bills of that session.
States which fail to comply with the federal requirements will impose
difficulties on their citizens. Without the new card it may become
impossible to purchase firearms, get a job, board a plane, vote, cash
a check, open a bank or investment account, purchase insurance,
receive federal benefits, obtain a student loan, receive Medicare or
Medicaid benefits, and many more basic services presently taken for
granted according to Poole.
Once the card is in use, Poole suggests that privacy will be a thing
of the past. Information will be easily available about all aspects of
every American's life. The information stored in each card will be
held in a computer chip imbedded in the card, which may one day be
injected under a person's skin. Experiments testing such an
identification system have already been conducted on military
personnel and for identification security at the Olympics.
For those who point to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, Poole
explains that President Bill Clinton recently signed Executive Order
13083 entitled "Federalism." That document effectively gives authority
to the federal government to force anything it wants on states. No
effort was made by anyone in Congress to overturn the Executive Order.
Conservatives went to their legislators in 1995 to protest an effort
by Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to establish a Conference of the States to
address the issue of states rights and federalism. Leavitt campaigned
hard and pointed to a federal government that had overstepped its
intended role and authority by imposing unfunded mandates on
states. Conservatives succeeded in defeating the effort but have thus
far remained relatively silent about the recent Executive Order 13083.
Phyllis Schlafly, president of Eagle Forum surprisingly had no comment
on the Executive Order. Leavitt could not be reached for comment, but
he has been very outspoken on states rights in the past. The
executive order apparently sets the stage for the federal government
to dictate anything it wants to the states. Compliance will be
mandated and states rights will be a thing of the past, according to
Poole. He said he would not be surprised to see more mandates such as
the national ID card forced upon unwilling states and citizens.
There is still time for individuals to comment on the Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking. All comments must be in writing and are limited
to a maximum of 15 pages and must be received no later than Aug. 3,
1998. Two copies of your comments should be sent to Docket
No. NHTSA-98-3945, Docket Management Room PL-401, National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street,
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590. Place the docket number on each page of
your comments.
Poole also suggests individuals contact their congressional
representatives. "They passed this thing, and they can change it if
they hear from enough people," he said.
======================================================
The regulation can be viewed at:
http://www.networkusa.org/fingerprint/page1b/fp-dot-dl-nprm.html
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