Archive for the ‘Janet Napolitano’ Category
EDITORIAL: Daily Show cracks under "conspiracy fatigue"
Posted: October 13, 2009 in Comedy Central, Janet Napolitano, John Stewart, the Daily ShowANALYSIS: A 1st Un-Real ID Hearing
Posted: July 16, 2009 in hearings, Janet Napolitano, PASS Act, Real ID Act of 2005Collins, Akaka say PASS Act to “fix” Real ID
“By Dec. 31, no state will have issued a Real ID compliant identification document. We cannot have national standards for driver’s licenses when the states themselves refuse to participate,” – DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano
It was refreshing to hear Sen. Joe Lieberman say, “We are not surprised to see that we are here today.” The Real ID Act passed without a debate, eluding due process. States were then asked to absorb the costs of inadequate technologies which would not protect them. Consequently States resisted the costs and dangers of incorporating the legislation. DHS is appropriately back to the drawing board.
Senator Akaka made an amazing point of asking Stewart Baker, consultant for former DHS Secretary Chertoff’s national security firm, about the top priority of order for expensing machine readable zone technologies [bar code, RFID, biometrics] over the stack of disaster preparedness needs. Even if no one asked us, we think the Senate should take the RFID & biometrics budget and reroute it to ready the Gulf Coast for the next hurricane season, instead of dragging out man-made disasters like the Real ID Act.
DHS Secretary Napolitano became an unlikely champion of pragmatism. It was so great to hear that Real ID was “D.O.A.”, going nowhere as long as at least 13 states had passed laws against it. She was the first to reveal a very strong reccomendation that States needed more time and would be willing to find their own paths to securing their licenses from pilot programs included in the PASS Act. Unfortunately, she too stays employed by sticking to the 9-11 Commisssion report as the rule book.
What did surprise was the fact that there really wasn’t a national standard to provide citizenship to attain a license prior to Real ID. Amid the echoing redundancy in Real ID regulations, it was miraculous that this fact managed to surface. At least 10 states, mostly on the Canadian border, had not required proof of lawful residence in the U.S. in order to attain a license. Many police officers and citizens alike have taken for granted that in order to attain a State issued identification, a cardholder has jumped through necessary hoops to prove identity. If not, then you don’t complete the American rite of passage. Again, Ari Schwartz exposed that internal fraud on the part of license administrators is one of the chief causes of identity theft.
Anti-Real ID Governors Targets for Corruption
Posted: July 4, 2009 in Governors, Janet Napolitano, Mark Sanford, Real ID Act of 2005, Sarah PalinBIOMETRICS & DEADLINES IN LIGHT OF THE PASS ACT
At the end of 2009, States face a 2nd DHS extension deadline to comply with federal Real ID regulations. Since June 1, 2009, DHS has been aggressively pushing biometric identifiers in State ID cards, commercial worker cards, and any form of travel ID cards to conform with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The use of biometrics in ID cards has been a historic sticking point with privacy and identity security advocates on both sides of the “immigration” debate.
Government technology vendors, like Digimarc and L-1 Biometrics subsidiaries, aggressively clamor to fulfill contracts on the basis of federal law in a stretched economy. Some vendors have gone as far a threat of legal suit over States non-compliance to fulfill Real ID Act regulations.
Biometrics is one of the most heavily argued matters in State legislatures. Considering the whopping price tag of itemized Real ID regulations, biometric incorporation seem to be within reach with some federal grant funding available. DHS continues to push for biometrics on the auspices of the Real ID Act and 9-11 Commission recommendations. State governments have been torn between those who seek out the benefits of a secured drivers license and those who raise issues of privacy and the 4th Amendment.
OP/ED: Repealing Real ID IS the right thing to do.
Posted: May 14, 2009 in Extenstion deadline, Janet Napolitano, Real ID, Washington TimesATTN: Those opposed to the Real ID
“Even though more than 30 states are moving to satisfy those requirements and even though she has the authority to give the remaining states additional time to do so, the former governor of Arizona apparently is OK with once again giving terrorists a pass to gain access to our airplanes, government facilities, banks, etc.” – Frank Gaffeney
Ms. Napolitano has her way, the Uigars will be able to get Virginia driver’s licenses – like 13 of the 21 Sept. 11 terrorists – as she says she intends to repeal the Real ID Act. That statute, which requires (among other things) that the 50 states meet a high standard for issuing driver’s licenses, was adopted belatedly on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. The commissioners emphasized that fraudulently obtained identity documents are “weapons” in the hands of our enemies
The secretary’s helpmate in repealing the Real ID Act is Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat. He is expected shortly to introduce a substitute dubbed the Pass ID Act. That title certainly is appropriate insofar as the draft bill seemingly would allow virtually anyone – including Guantanamo detainees, illegal alien employees of international organizations and a class called “other nonimmigrant aliens who are authorized to remain in the United States for an indefinite period” – to be eligible for temporary driver’s licenses or other IDs.
Ms. Napolitano seems to want political cover for eviscerating the statute’s eminently sensible and much-needed requirements with respect to driver’s licenses. Even though more than 30 states are moving to satisfy those requirements and even though she has the authority to give the remaining states additional time to do so, the former governor of Arizona apparently is OK with once again giving terrorists a pass to gain access to our airplanes, government facilities, banks, etc.
Sensenbrenner is Still an Idiot
Posted: April 29, 2009 in Border issues Real Id DHS, James Sensenbrenner, Janet Napolitano, Real ID Act of 2005Let’s see: DHS says no more Real ID; and then Rep. Sensenbrenner calls for Napolitano’s resignation.
For plausible reason close to mental duress or estrangement from his false achievement in Real ID, Wisconsin cheeseball, Congressman James Sensenbrenner has demanded Janet Napolitano’s resignation.
He’s just an idiot.
It’s not Napolitano that Sensenbrenner wants to fire. It’s me. It’s Katherine Albrecht. It’s Mark Lerner. It’s Donna Holt, Aaron Bollenger and JP of ALIPAC. It’s the BORDC, the CCR, the ACLU and the AFL-CIO!! It’s a ton of citizen bloggers and every person who wrote their congressional leaders in their legislature and begged not to be chipped and ripped off by biometrics manufacturers, only to have their identity scalped later. We are the people responsible for killing his evil plan.
Look, DHS is not a popular agency. Never has been. Chertoff was a tool. Napolitano can also be a tool, especially to those in the gun registry. DHS sucks. However, we don’t have the authority to fire this agency when it’s not going our way. Unless the US government decides to dismantle the agency and all the fascist agendas it stands for; it will be in Maryland being eschewed by the American people. The decison to rid our lives of DHS is above our paygrade.
BUT for once in our lives, DHS cuts us all a break, is reasonable and understanding over not wanting the Real ID and they move to repeal!! When over half the states in this nation pass legislation banning the federal Real ID mandate to visit their homestead, it’s not getting anywhere.
Fusion Centers, Identity & Texas
Posted: April 3, 2009 in Express, Janet Napolitano, Media Networks, News, Rick Perry, San AntonioBut first a witness….
On Monday during a testimony hearing of HB 4036 before the Public Safety Committee, DPS Chief Judy Brown was called as a neutral witness by Rep. Tommy Merritt, who filed the legislation. HB 4036 is a state legisation that would provide Texas with one Real ID as intended in accordance with the federal regulations.
Rep. Merritt asked if there was any RFID chips in this version of the bill, if it had any biometrics and if there was in fact a DHS database. Chief Judy Brown replied no on all three accounts.
Later, I was called to testify as opposed to the federal-to-state legislation, in which I pointed out that Section 2.14 of HB 4036 called for “facial comparison technology and digital fingerprints” – which is biometrics and verified that there was in fact no RFID chips called for in the licenses.
However, I did add a correction to the notion of the non-existence of a database saying, “There is no DHS database. However there is a database maintained by State Agencies called an Information Analysis Center which stores and shares all kinds of sensitive voter information, license and identity information such as {…} in which the DHS has oversight.”
SO WHAT IS DHS DOING RIGHT NOW?!!
Janet Napolitano and Texas Governor Rick Perry’s danced a 2-step to preserve continuity of government with some immigration posturing. This trifling of the American identity through the sieve of political documentation came out in this murky account, in the San Antonio Express News.
So to make a point expressly clear to conventional mainstream media, the 5-11 Campaign released this statement to editors and to news outlets.
_____________
Dear Editors,
The federal call to complicity with a national ID card is an inappropriate approach to identifying the “bad actors” in our society.
America is a strong nation. Texas is a great part of that nation. Commercial confidence is not the only priority we have. We are maintaining ourselves well in the face of prospective dangers while persevering in financial crisis. We are strong and capable of answering for ourselves and living above fear.
This is our identity and our heritage.
While I can’t speak for everyone, I do speak for those who have watched the terrible erosion of freedoms taken for granted over the last several years. These error’s apparent, began with what the Austin Chronicle called “the legislative blitz of 2005” : The Patriot Act, The Military Tribunals Act, and the former suspension of Posse Comitatus and the Real ID Act of 2005. This later led to Homeland Security waiving 36 essential state and federal laws to forge eminent domain claims against objections of Texas property owners.
Moreover, The Real ID Act calls for a nationalized ID card [containing biometrics or facial comparison technology and fingerprints, along with your Social Security Number] to be added to a highly insecure national to international database. Your personal data then takes a journey as it joins an Information Analysis Center operated by a State agency. From there it is joined to a network of 57 other fusion centers cross country and then shared with customs in Canada and Mexico, mostly as unprotected data. Contrary to a popular belief, a National ID card doesn’t weed out those undocumented or criminal aliens who have long since figured out how to work around a system where their black market work force identity sustains itself. A National ID card causes Americans to declare their citizenship within their borders as an internal passport.
I do not need an internal passport in the country I was born in and have travelled in all of my life. A driver’s license is for operating a vehicle. It is only one form of acceptable identity in this country. For those so compelled to declare their citizenship as a priority, get a passport.
The Real ID as a National ID plan has been around before the September 11th attacks.
I ask Texans to take their identity personally and to not allow the federal government to slip this leash around your neck. From here law enforcement may conveniently forget who you are and no matter how much identity you materialize it will never be enough to satisfy their demand to arbitrarily detain Texans on the whims of unelected officials.
Don’t get suckered with a nationalized ID.
Best,
Sheila Dean
511Campaign.org
EDL’s "More Insidious" according to Privacy Experts
Posted: March 2, 2009 in civil liberties, drivers license, Janet Napolitano, RFIDOPINION :Eleanor Duckwall on Incrementalism & Purpose of Real ID
BTC -Continued news from privacy expert, Katherine Albrecht about Napolitano’s re-branding of Real ID.
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Radio chip coming soon to your driver’s license?
Homeland Security seeks next-generation REAL ID
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Washington state’s enhanced driver’s license
Privacy advocates are issuing warnings about a new radio chip plan that ultimately could provide electronic identification for every adult in the U.S. and allow agents to compile attendance lists at anti-government rallies simply by walking through the assembly.
The proposal, which has earned the support of Janet Napolitano, the newly chosen chief of the Department of Homeland Security, would embed radio chips in driver’s licenses, or “enhanced driver’s licenses.” [MORE]