Today, after nearly two decades of implementation and delays, the federal government’s new identification requirements for traveling by plane domestically or entering federal buildings technically go into effect. This federally-compliant ID card—known as Real ID—can only be attained with specific records and documents laid out by the federal government. It’s labeled by a black or gold star in the upper right corner.
Even though DHS Secretary Kristi Noem promised that, at least initially, people without a Real ID will only have to face some “extra scrutiny” at security checkpoints, it’s safe to assume that, as the full requirement sets in over the next several weeks and months, some number of people will show up to airports unaware that they no longer have the documents required to board their plane. And, because the process of getting through most domestic airports was grueling enough before the deadline, many expect air travel to be especially arduous during the transition.
Because of the absoluteness of this new requirement and the harsh punishments for non-compliance—just picture what would happen to you if you tried to get into a federal building or onto a plane without the accepted forms of ID—it can be easy to write off the Real ID requirement as some new rule that, while annoying, is probably being implemented for a good reason.
It’s not.
As mentioned above, the Real ID Act was passed twenty years ago in 2005. It was one of the many measures rolled out in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that was presented to the public as being necessary to ensure that similar attacks would never happen again.
The original bill specified that the federal government would refuse to accept any form of ID that did not meet the requirements Congress had passed by May of 2008. But as that date drew closer, few states had implemented the new provisions. Some governors had vocally refused to comply because they opposed what was, in effect, the implementation of a national identification database.
That prompted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to delay the deadline several times—first to 2011, then a complicated range of deadlines from 2013 to 2017 based on age and state of residence, and then to one universal deadline in October 2020.
Then the pandemic hit, and the deadline was extended again to 2021, then 2023, and finally to today, May 7, 2025.
If these new ID requirements were as crucial to the safety of air travelers—and the American public at large—as the federal government has claimed, the sheer time it’s taken to implement would be unacceptable. That alone is a sign that, perhaps, the federal government’s motivations are not what they say.
Hellbound and Down 