NATIONAL SECURITY ID CARD AND DATABASE NEEDED [Editorial] - Editorial

Online Newsletter, Jan, 2002

A U.S. National Security ID Card and corresponding online database with linkage to other federal and state databases is urgently needed now to protect the American public.

While the U.S. has always welcomed foreign visitors to its shores, whether to visit, study, or become residents [or citizens], not all visitors have good intentions as witnessed September 11, 2001. Although the use of a national security ID card was discussed and considered immediately following the September terrorist attacks, President Bush has reportedly expressed his reluctance to issue such a card and others at the White House said "it is not even considering the idea". - Maybe.

The 2000 U.S. Census listed over 281 million people living in the U.S. -- Of course, this does not include the 8 to 9 million illegal aliens that are now living in the U.S. with expired visas that the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) has lost track of, or those who wished to remain anonymous to the census because they were fugitives from justice or had entered the U.S. illegally and fear arrest and deportation. This number does not include amnesty given to 2.7 million illegal aliens in 1986 who were given legal permanent resident status.

Security - what security?

While much blame has been cast on the INS for not keeping track of visa holders (its bureaucracy is due largely to Congress and previous administrations), Attorney General John Ashcroft announced on November 14, the restructuring of INS, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, into two separate entities: services, and enforcement, to be known as the INS Services Bureau and the INS Bureau of Immigrant Enforcement. However, the reforms are not expected to be completed until FY 2003, and no new legislation is required.

If all you need to enter an airport is a picture ID (usually a driver license), then most of the states will provide you with one - even if you lie about it. Fake Green cards, visas, and other IDs are readily for sale on virtually every street corner. Ditto on credit and Social Security cards. You can even lie your way into obtaining a visa overseas to enter the U.S., as has been observed too many times.

While the U.S. Congress ponders this question in both the House and the Senate, time is of the essence - not lengthy debate about privacy issues.

What would a National Security ID Card be like?

Unconstitutional? ... Hardly. -- Even the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that anonymity and privacy are separate issues.

First of all, the National Security ID card would be difficult to counterfeit and would contain vital information such as: a unique ID number, where issued, facial photograph (not less than 3 years' old), thumb print or finger prints, facial profiling (possibly a sooner enhancement), eye scan (possibly a later enhancement), DNA (this is still in the high cost range), name and address, driver license number, Social Security number and possibly other relevant information. - Colorado is now the first state to use facial profiling in all new driver licenses.

States should be mandated by the federal government to not only furnish driver records with facial photos, but a thumb print as well. States would also be required to share their driver online database with federal national security authorities (something many states even now refuse, except under a court order). -- To make matters worse, some states have been issuing driver licenses to known illegal aliens.

The federal government itself would enhance the database by input from all of its agencies - military, law enforcement, and others by linking them to the Master database. The database might also have links to foreign government security databases, and those containing terrorist organizations and names. - Current foreign, federal and state databases might require some modifications or fields to be compatible with the Master database, but this should be an easy task to fix.

Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies [CIS], is among those who would like to see every applicant for a U.S. visa to be fingerprinted and their prints placed in an integrated system [database] that could be accessed by every agency involved in the immigration process. Both Camarota and Mark Krikorian (also with the CIS) urged greater scrutiny of those wishing to come from known Middle Eastern countries and others which have been involved in terrorism. The Center for Immigration Studies is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank that examines and critiques the impact of immigration on the United States. The Center is not affiliated with any other organization.

A Master National Security ID Database

This database would basically cover all of the information required on the card itself as noted above. However, database records would be enhanced with additional information from state and federal agencies online in real-time to assist law enforcement agencies. (More than one felon has managed to escape because the requested data from a state or federal agency was received too late to hold the suspect.) -- Even though the FBI has its Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (launched in July 1999) containing a database of more than 41 million fingerprints (all 10 fingers), it reportedly only contains prints of people that have been convicted of crimes. -- But while the FBI's processing time is under two hours (previously taking up to 45 days) - that's still much too slow for local identification scanning.