More than 20 years after 9/11, Americans are still taking their shoes off at airport checkpoints and remain prohibited from packing larger bottles in their luggage. Yet the folks at the Department of Homeland Security continue to be flummoxed about how to implement more stringent identification requirements for airline passengers.
On Monday, the department announced that it was again delaying enforcement of the Real ID Act, which Congress passed 17 years ago. The legislation imposed certain standards on states for issuing driver’s licenses and ID cards, forcing recipients to provide additional documentation. The purpose was to enhance travel security by improving the reliability of state-issued identification.
The latest extension means air travelers have been granted a two-year reprieve and won’t need federally approved IDs until May 2025.
