Michael Chertoff defends Real ID:

Anne Broache reports on an interview or a talk with Michael Chertoff (the DHS chief) here, for CNET news.com. From the article:

The importance of such documents was magnified by an announcement Wednesday, Chertoff said. Federal authorities reported that they had made more than 1,200 arrests related to immigration violations and unmasked criminal organizations stealing and trafficking in genuine birth certificates and Social Security cards belonging to U.S. citizens.

Common sense, if you know ANYTHING about security, is that Real ID will make traffic in birth certificates and social security cards more expensive and more valuable. They'll still be obtainable, and the temptation to cash in on illegal trafficking will be a sore temptation for some of the thousands of people who will have access, after Real ID is implemented.

Will making it more expensive to get these documents stop terrorists? That's unlikely, as it appears that the terrorists we fear most have billions at their disposal. And the plans to rush Real ID into being in 2008 will create many dozens of serious security loopholes to work the system. Another quote from the article:

Conspicuously absent was any mention of the department's cybersecurity plans. After more than a year of delay, Chertoff hired Gregory Garcia, who had been working as a vice president at the Information Technology Association of America lobby group, as the department's first assistant secretary for cybersecurity. That step came after the department had sustained repeated bashing of its efforts in that realm from members of Congress.

It's a pity that DHS can't make a cybersecurity plan of their own, but they KNOW Real ID will work.