The vice chairman of the Sept. 11 Commission told a Senate panel Monday that the commission's recommendations on border and transportation security "might lead to" a national identity card.

Although the commission shied away from directly making the controversial call in its final report, "We did recommend national standards for drivers' licenses," Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. "Over time," he told committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., "that might lead to a national ID card." "Isn't that a fundamental issue that we're going to have to address as a nation?" McCain asked Commission Chairman Tom Kean. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement Tuesday that federal standards for drivers' licenses constituted a "backdoor attempt to create a national ID-card system and a serious threat to privacy, liberty and safety."

They said the idea "would provide a new tool for racial, religious or ethnic profiling and would lead to far more illegal discrimination."

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040816-061940-3291r



Source:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - August 26th, 2004