Road to digital driver's licenses seen as chaotic.

We've finally got a computer-aware reporter, Alan Elsner telling a juicy story about RealID in Computerworld. Please read the entire article. Some quotes:

... some experts warn that the plan may be hugely expensive and lead to chaos.

"This law has the potential for huge bureaucratic and technical problems," said Cheye Calvo at the National Conference of State Legislatures. "This law was written by people who didn't take the time to understand how these things are done and didn't even hold any congressional hearings."

Calvo wondered whether the act can be implemented at all. "Whether states will be able to verify so many millions of documents at all, much less in a timely manner, is in question," he said.

... the [Home Security] regulations aren't expected to be finalized until next summer at the earliest, which will leave states with little time until the May 2008 implementation date.

And my personal favorite, considering that there's little the states can do until HS finalizes the details:

"There is a concern that some states are not planning for the transformation and will find themselves having to move very hastily," said Brendan Peter, a senior director at Daon Inc., a Reston, Va.-based biometric company.