DHS chief eyes ID cards with biometric data

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff said today he intends to spend money to develop technology that will allow identification cards to serve several purposes, but stopped short of advocating a national identification card.

Chertoff told reporters at a media briefing hosted by the King Publishing Group that he believes it is critical to develop a technological platform for ID cards that is efficient and versatile.

He said the department ought to be working toward the creation of a single, secure card embedded with biometric information and capable of working across jurisdictions. In May 2005, President Bush signed into law a bill that established national standards for driver's licenses. States must meet the standards by 2008.

Chertoff said a multi-functional ID card could satisfy the conditions and simultaneously serve other security initiatives, such as the Registered Traveler program for moving pre-approved airline passengers through screening more quickly.

Chertoff said individuals are mistaken if they believe that ordinary driver's licenses provide sufficient identification. He said the technology embedded in the cards he is proposing would improve privacy protection and reduce inconveniences.

He did not offer any suggestions as to how states will pay to meet the requirements of the licensing law, but he said he expects full compliance. "It's the law," he said. "Whether people like it or not, they're obliged to follow it."

On another front, Chertoff conceded that state and local officials might be frustrated with recent adjustments in the department's risk-based formula for distributing counterterrorism grants that award grants to regions rather than cities.

Several governors, including Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, criticized the shift. Schwarzenegger wrote Chertoff last week to voice his concern that San Diego and Sacramento might lose funding under the new formula.

Chertoff said he expected the shift would ruffle feathers. "We're not saying there's no threat to anyone not on the list," he said. The risk-based formula will extend to chemical plants, he said.

He did not offer an endorsement of bills recently introduced in the House and Senate to address the issue, but he said he would prefer a narrowly focused measure that would include incentives for compliance.