It is well covered ground, the series of sweeping national security reforms adopted by the federal government in the wake of 9/11. Everything from the Patriot Act to Guantanamo Bay found unprecedented levels of public support in the name of ensuring the uninsurable, that the United States would never again find itself the victim of a terrorist attack. One of the side effects of these efforts was turning a trip to the airport into an activity slightly more complicated that preparing for space travel. Well, according to some reports, that won't be changing anytime soon.

In fact, it might end up getting worse.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that unless Congress drops the travel identification requirements presented in President Bush's controversial Real ID Act, massive delays and ultra-diligent security screenings may soon become the norm for air travelers.

The Real ID Act calls for myriad reforms ranging from requiring potential license holders to present everything from a birth certificate to a Social Security card to receive a state driver's license, to stricter standards for immigrants to receive licenses.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified to Congress that it is seemingly impossible to expect states to be able to satisfy the 18 enhanced security requirements for issuance of a state driver's license by a December 31, 2009, deadline.

Napolitano, presumably speaking for the Obama administration as a whole, claims that without revisions millions of travelers will face airport chaos. Testifying before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Napolitano claims that passengers without enhanced licenses "will face additional screening by TSA, and one can only contemplate the inconvenience in airline travel that could occur if everyone has to undergo additional screening because they don't have a Real ID-compliant drivers license." In response to this prediction, a TSA official told the Chronicle that it would be premature to forecast the impact additional screening would have on air travel.

According to the Chronicle's report, "administration-backed legislation to revamp the Real ID Act would drop some of the unfulfilled provisions of the Bush administration-era law in order to win wider implementation by states." The report goes on to note that 25 states have hesitated or outright refused to take part in the reforms called for in the plan, citing concerns about high costs and the risks of sharing sensitive information.

One prominent Republican lawmaker, who just so happens to be the act's original author, sees the administration's protests regarding Real ID as tempting fate.

Calling the Obama administration's potential revised ID program (dubbed "Pass ID") "a watered-down version" of the Bush law, Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner told the Chronicle that the changes to the bill would "return the United States to pre-9/11 security standards."

If Sensenbrenner's claims sound suspiciously like the same scare tactics used to pass most controversial post-9/11 legislation in the first place, well congratulations you've been paying attention.

The intentions behind the original 2005 Real ID Act were not necessarily nefarious ones; this is something that can sometimes be easily forgotten. Coming on the heels of a terrorist attack where 18 of the 19 hijackers involved carried state-issued driver's licenses, more secure identification requirements at airports was a legitimate concern. However, it is the collateral damage inflicted by such a law that seems to be underestimated: the financial costs and the added inconvenience to already harried travelers who are just trying to get home to Sandusky for the holidays.

No one is anti-security when it comes to air travel... well, at least no one who isn't hanging out in a sleeper cell at the moment. But there must be something said for people's lives and business going on unimpeded by heavy government surveillance and regulation. When half the states in the union are refusing to get on board with a law, a law whose supporters feel is essential to national security, there clearly has been some sort of miscommunication along the line.

Also Interesting:

[+] Real ID program getting slammed

[+] How the FBI is spending $1 billion dollars

[+] Inmates to undergo immigration checks

[+] Congress gets into the baggage handling business