[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2092-E2093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TIME TO OVERHAUL THE DRIVERS' LICENSE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 19, 2004

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, As you know there is considerable concern 
that the state drivers' licenses no longer can be said to meet 
standards of reliability we have come to expect from documents upon 
which we must rely to authenticate the identity of an individual. The 
ease with which such documents may be counterfeited, or even procured 
through lawful channels, by those not entitled to them gives me pause.
  Recently I read a thoughtful and provocative Op-ed in the Nov./Dec. 
issue of Digital Transactions by Mr. Joel Lisker. Mr. Lisker, a former 
FBI supervisor, federal prosecutor & senior Senate Counsel, who led 
MasterCard International's Global Security and Risk Management 
department for 16 years, takes a close look at the current troubling 
state of such licenses and the need to upgrade them to a reliable, 
proven state-of-the-art platform.

[[Page E2093]]

  These are, after all, the de facto U.S. national identity cards, 
whether we choose to refer to them that way, or not.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that the complete text of the article be included 
in the record, and I commend its reading to my colleagues.

                 Time to Overhaul the Drivers' License

       This commomplace piece of plastic has by default become the 
     national identification card. Adding readily available 
     advanced technology, such as integrated-circuit chips, can 
     make it more reliable for a post-9/11 world--and pave the way 
     for chip-based payment cards, to boot, says Joel Lisker.
       What is the most valuable piece of paper/plastic in your 
     possession? One that can have a huge impact on the quality of 
     your life; maybe even save your life. Is it your health-care 
     Card? Social Security card? Medicare card? Credit card? Nope. 
     It's that little piece of low-end plastic with your photo and 
     a few personal details issued by your State Department of 
     Motor Vehicles, in hundreds of versions, with a variety of 
     features.
       The few standards that do apply to these cards have been 
     deliberately set at the low end for reasons of cost, because 
     in fairness, not too long ago, the drivers' license was just 
     that. As a consequence, operational quality, functionality, 
     security, consistency, and currency vis-a-vis state-of-the-
     art technology have not been factors, Yet now, these are the 
     very cards that increasingly say with authority who we are, 
     and, most important, that we are who we say we are.
       In fact, the ubiquitous, poorly designed and equally poorly 
     crafted drivers' license is the de facto national identity 
     card But we need something better--and urgently. Why?
       In the aftermath of 9/11, government at every level has 
     struggled with the challenges generated by the life-or-death 
     need to make us more secure--no easy task. Several meaningful 
     steps have been taken, but what is lacking, at the core, is a 
     single, self-authenticating piece of identification upon 
     which authorities may rely. So what's the problem? The 
     problem in a word is reliability. The drivers' license has 
     become the primary means of identification that government 
     has come to regard as reliable at a time when counterfeit and 
     fraudulent applications are rampant.
       For example, we may question the abilities of the 
     Transportation Security Administration and now private 
     screeners to authenticate drivers' licenses, given that they 
     are called upon to examine hundreds of different licenses on 
     any given shift.
       I submit that several excellent solutions now exist that 
     can be implemented, without adding great cost to already 
     strained state and federal budgets. Some of these solutions, 
     if applied in volume to drivers' licenses, would have the 
     added benefit of creating economies of scale for chip-based 
     payment cards in North America.


                             catching fraud

       Let's examine a relevant private-sector initiative. Most 
     banks submit all new U.S. credit card applications to a 
     database to check prior use of key data elements. Two of 
     those elements are the Social Security number (SSN) and 
     address. I envision a similar database of all license holders 
     and applicants that would also contain these two data 
     elements. These could be compared with an SSN/current-address 
     file maintained by the Social Security Administration, kept 
     current based on information furnished by the Internal 
     Revenue Service and contained on the Form 1040.
       When a criminal steals a Social Security number, he will 
     always use an address different from that of the true account 
     holder. This process would catch most of the cases of 
     attempted fraud while revealing no other 1040 information. A 
     follow-up mailing to the address listed would confirm that 
     a license using that address had been issued.
       The drivers' license itself need's work. For example, it 
     can now be enhanced using readily available and very secure 
     integrated-circuit technology, in use in some markets by the 
     payment card companies, combined with optical memory card 
     technology, now in use on all U.S. permanent resident or 
     ``green'' cards, Southern Border-crossing cards, Canadian 
     ``green'' cards, and an increasing number of Canadian drivers 
     licenses.
       In fact, these technologies would permit the security 
     screener to simply swipe or insert the license in a secure 
     reader, the same as a credit card, thereby allowing for 
     authentication of the document as validly issued and 
     currently in force. It could not be effectively copied or 
     skimmed.
       Thus, not only could the card be authenticated, but, by 
     using biometric information such as that derived from 
     fingerprints, a validation of the cardholder could also be 
     achieved while protecting the privacy of the licensee's data 
     stored on the card in their possession. This process would be 
     far superior to the current ``hit or miss'' system, which 
     depends entirely on the ability of the TSA Screener to 
     discern a false document.


                         beware that cell phone

       This optical-memory card approach, with up to 2.8 megabytes 
     of data per card, would allow for all 10 fingerprints, an 
     iris template, facial template, or just about anything else 
     you might want. This would be entirely consistent with the 
     recommendations of the 9/11 Commission contained in 
     Section.12.4 of its report. Moreover, the deployment of the 
     IC feature of the new drivers license, numbering more than 
     100 million units, would pave the way for the rapid 
     deployment of a financial payments industry IC card. on a 
     very cost-effective basis. How would government support the 
     additional costs associated with some of the enhancements 
     described here? I submit that a modest increase in the cost 
     of the drivers' license would more than cover this expense. 
     The TSA portion, which would result from the deployment of 
     card-reading terminals at each point of access, could be 
     funded with a modest tax on each airline ticket, one that 
     most air travelers would gladly pay.
       To those who would argue against such enhancements on the 
     grounds that they will bring us closer to the dreaded 
     ``national identification card,'' allowing the tentacles of 
     government to slither even more deeply into our lives and 
     privacy, I say this: You better take another look at that GPS 
     cell phone of yours. And what about that OnStar service or EZ 
     Pass? Your ATM Card?
       The drivers' license, in its present form is a seriously 
     flawed de facto national identification card. We have cost-
     effective, proven, secure technologies at hand. Let's use 
     them.

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