Identity Crisis
The incognito of lower class employment is
an effective cloak for any dagger one might wish to hide.
--Margaret Cho
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth
--Matthew 6:3
___________
an effective cloak for any dagger one might wish to hide.
--Margaret Cho
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth
--Matthew 6:3
___________
The fact that all Americans who travel outside of and return to the U.S. from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean must now obtain extra identification cards to prove we are who we say we are, paying hard-earned dollars and wasting precious time in the process, got Ranger thinking.
Millions of us have United States Uniformed Services Identification cards DD form 2 (retired) and Department of Veterans Affairs ID cards. Active Duty Military and Reserve Force personnel also have official identification cards. These individuals have undergone security clearances that clearly exceed the requirements of the current ID cards.
Why must these federally identified individuals, bearing federal ID, also possess the new passports to prove that they are citizens? The U.S. government should not require further ID of these individuals; it is needless redundancy and cost.
Why are these layers of ID needed? The duplication of identifying documentation does not make anyone safer from terrorism. It is another example of the federal left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
It simply takes money out of American pockets.
--Jim
Millions of us have United States Uniformed Services Identification cards DD form 2 (retired) and Department of Veterans Affairs ID cards. Active Duty Military and Reserve Force personnel also have official identification cards. These individuals have undergone security clearances that clearly exceed the requirements of the current ID cards.
Why must these federally identified individuals, bearing federal ID, also possess the new passports to prove that they are citizens? The U.S. government should not require further ID of these individuals; it is needless redundancy and cost.
Why are these layers of ID needed? The duplication of identifying documentation does not make anyone safer from terrorism. It is another example of the federal left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
It simply takes money out of American pockets.
--Jim
Labels: federal identity cards
posted by Lisa at 10:03 PM
4 Comments:
One issue the border guards are faced with is the sheer *number* of valid ID forms that are currently acceptable for admission at the border. A passport is at least a single recognizable form of identification where they do not have to be geniuses to figure out that it's acceptable (or not). That's pretty much why most nations require passports to enter and exit, with the exception of the EU, which between its economic units requires only that you carry valid national ID. But the United States doesn't have a valid national ID (yet)... meaning 50 different individual ID's, all of which are easily forgeable, 50 different formats for state birth certificates, all of which are easily forgeable, etc...
In other words, ID requirements at the northern and southern borders have always been an issue. The sheer number of ways to prove citizenship insured that it was easy to forge papers allowing you through the border and back again. It's just that Dear Leader (or, rather, one of his suprisingly more-competent minions in an administration full of incompetents) is finally doing something about it.
Pretty simple, Jim. Badtux provides good rationale in the numbers argument. We don't want to overtax those boys at the border now, do we?
Plus there is this: military ID cards have traditionally been very easy to get ahold of. Snuffies sometimes sold 'em because it was a simple matter to go get another one. Then there was the fact that military personnel shops were never known for securing blank stock adequately. One doubts VA does any better.
Then there is this. Not all enlisted military ID holders are citizens. You can be enlisted as a green-card carrier. Officers are different: must be a citizen. So if you threw that one in at the border boys—i.e., having to tell the difference between "CPT" and "PFC"—they'd probably go on strike.
BTW, I've had occasion to discuss such matters with some senior federales. Most don't have a clue that military officers are constitutional officers (say, what! is the common reaction) and accordingly are by definition citizens.
Bottom line is ID cards are a dime a dozen and are not ironclad proof of anything other than military status (maybe).
publius,
Point taken. However, it seems DoD could put a block on the ID card stating whether the bearer was a citizen or not. But for AD personnel, it is a moot point, since regardless of their citizenry we should want to let them reenter the US, if they're on active duty.
The Federal guidelines req. birth certificates, but there doesn't seem to be any req. that these be certified. If all ID is based upon birth certs which can be easily obtained, then the resulting ID cards can also be viewed as spurious.
If you can't trust the DVA and DoD ID cards, how can you then rust any federal ID? They are all based upon human error, and can be bought, forged or stolen, as you point out.
There is a requirement that the birth certificates be certified, i.e., that they have the proper stamp on them from the Registrar of Births of the state that issued them. Believe me, I know this from personal experience, they will *not* accept photocopies or anything that doesn't look "official". Problem is, it's easy to fake the certification stamp. So right now border guards have to know what 50 state identification cards look like, what 50 state birth certificates look like (including the exact details of what the certification stamp looks and feels like), what every type of picture federal ID card looks like, etc., and they ain't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, me friend. It's just not a workable system if you're trying to control who crosses the border to keep out non-citizens or criminals or etc...
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