Travelers who aren’t REAL ID compliant by the upcoming deadline this week will still be able to fly but should be prepared for extra scrutiny, the head of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
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00:00Tomorrow is the day that Real ID will finally be enforced. It's been a law
00:04that's been in place for over 20 years. 81% of the travelers that travel by
00:09airline in the United States today are already compliant. So they have IDs that
00:12already they will be able to use just like they normally always have been. We
00:17will be honoring passports, other federally recognized IDs, tribal IDs
00:22will be recognized. And what will happen tomorrow is folks will come through the
00:25line and will be issued their ID and show it. If it's not compliant they may be
00:30diverted to a different line, have an extra step but people will be allowed to
00:34fly. After 9-11, the 9-11 Commission convened and one of their key
00:40recommendations was to improve identification of those using the
00:43transportation network. And so this Real ID Act was signed in 2005. We've been
00:48endeavoring to to launch it since then. So when you go to that Motor Vehicle
00:51Commission to get that Real ID driver's license you have to provide a lot more
00:55documentation that provides a higher degree of certainty that that individual
01:00identity is exactly accurate. There are other forms of Real ID such as
01:04passports, passports cards, and I refer anyone who has any questions on what is
01:09an acceptable Real ID to TSA.gov for a full list. If you have a Real ID and it's
01:14compliant with the law, it'll be business as usual. If you do not, that
01:19individual should be aware that they could be subjected to additional enhanced
01:23screening at the checkpoint. So that may cause a slight delay for them. So they
01:27bake that into their time in travel plans. I mean, people have had plenty of
01:32time to get prepared for it. So don't object to it. That's fine. It's perfect. I've been
01:40waiting five years. I've had it for five years at least. So back when they first
01:45started talking about it and it was a good idea back then. And I don't remember the
01:50deadlines, but we got it right away. It didn't matter. You know, I question the
01:55bureaucracy around it. It feels like a tax on everyday people having to upgrade
01:59their licenses and all of their identification for something that
02:03really, you know, seems like we've been fine without it.