A top Homeland Security official indicated Wednesday that the answer may be yes.
In a presentation aimed at promoting the final identification requirements released Friday, Stewart Baker, the Homeland Security Department's assistant secretary for policy, suggested the controversial system could help federal agents combat methamphetamine production and abuse in the United States.
Baker cited a 2005 federal law, which requires pharmacies to keep tabs on how often people buy certain drugs, such as cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, that can be used to concoct the drug. The key to that process, naturally, is verifying the customer's identity through some sort of document.
"If you have a good ID...it would make it much harder for meth labs to function in this country," Baker said in a morning presentation here at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that supports Real ID.
Under the final Real ID rule, starting on May 11 (unless states request waivers, which many are expected to do), Americans will be expected to present compliant licenses for "federal purposes," which have so far focused on boarding a commercial aircraft and entering a federal building or nuclear facility. If granted extensions, states will have until 2017 to begin issuing the cards to all their residents.
Baker's comments on Wednesday hinted that the government envisions other uses for the documents. In addition to the methamphetamine issue, he also suggested Real ID could be valuable for employers trying to avoid hiring illegal immigrants who present falsified identification cards.
Read on... Do you really want the gov. to know what you buy?
