Superguy

Which is dumb because it's not like the person stops being themselves simply because an ID expired.

gsoltso

I couldn't agree with you more, and evidently HQ thought the same thing, because there are many of the cards that have no expiration date that are accepted now.

FlyingHoustonian

True. At least Texas will recognise the state IDs for 60days past expiry for most state government purposes (and now voting).

Before DoD CAC cards the IDs of most commissioned officers did not have an expiration unless they were contracted (a special status) or had a retirement date.

For example, when I was commissioned as an officer my "old style" ID did not have an end date nor did any of the other regular officers' cards. Now theCAC expiry date can be linked to ADSC or just a three year time frame, among other things.

Boggie Dog

My retired ID card had "Indef" as an expiration date. I got a new one this year and it has an expiration date of my 65 birthday. Probably more DEERS related than anything else.

The problem TSA created when using a Vehicle Operators Permit as a form of ID is linking the dates the permit is valid directly to the persons identity. The person doesn't change so the valid dates do not apply in that case.

I know such a wild concept that TSA can't figure it out.

jkhuggins

That's not the reason for expiration dates. It's not that the person stops being themselves. It's that the ID has a time-limited utility in verifying that the person's identity.

I have an expired passport for my son that we got for him when he was in pre-school. He's now in middle school. His identity hasn't changed any, but he doesn't look like his passport photo anymore. Using his passport as an identity document is pretty useless.

Superguy

That may be true, depending on when the expiration date is.

It's reasonable to not necessarily accept a 10 year old ID. However, it can be if the person still looks mostly like the pic.

It's BS not to accept an ID that expired within the last week or month though.

Apples and oranges. Of course a kid is going to look different in the 5 year passport interval. However, an ID isn't required for kids for TSA's purposes, so that argument's irrelevant.

FlyingHoustonian

yes indeed many more used to say "indef";before CAC mine said indef as did all the other lieutenant's and captains. Granted those ID cards looked like they could have been made in someone's basement.

DEERS has its own problems and has for years, but I don't think TSA is even remotely qualified to understand those systems, even if they do have some "veterans" on their staff. I don't think they will ever get the concept...

FliesWay2Much

Same with me. In addition to DEERS, I was told that you can't be recalled to active duty after your 65th birthday except in extraordinary situations. Check yours out and you'll be happy to see that your SSN is no longer on it.

jkhuggins

So, ten years is too long, but one month is too short. So, the deadline should be somewhere between one month and ten years. Where should it be?

Be careful: I'm setting you up for a trap. Because no matter what time interval you name (say, "one year"), someone will immediately come back with "What? my one-year-old ID is fine, but my one-year-plus-one-day-old ID is invalid? How much can one day matter?"

My point: if we agree that IDs can't be used to verify identity indefinitely, one has to draw a line somewhere regarding expiration dates --- and there will always be arguments about IDs with expiration dates right around that line.

The alternative, I suppose, is to adopt a standard that allows the TDCs to make an individual judgment as to whether or not a given ID is "too long expired" --- which would guarantee inconsistency from airport to airport, or even checkpoint to checkpoint. We see how well that doesn't work with existing rules regarding "reasonable quantities of medication or medically-necessary food".

In short, if you're going to use ID cards as a means of verifying identity, you have to make a decision regarding how "fresh" the cards need to be.

Which, of course, leads to the next question of "well, how does checking IDs contribute to security anyways", for which there is no good answer ...

Xyzzy

There is certainly a good answer - IT DESN'T!. I feel better now!

dan1431

I use my CAC at many airport (including BWI) and they are able to pull up your pic and I guess some other BIO DATA if your CAC is DOD issued.

I was at DCA recently at the US Airways Club which overlooks the checkpoint and could see the TSA employee scanning CACs and on his screen a pic of the person and some text (it was too small to read) did appear.

Dan

mattp1987

It looks like this method for verifying PreCheck for military is changing according to this link on the TSA blog. It is currently being discussed in this thread in the Trusted Traveler forum. This should stop them from scanning IDs and pulling up pictures and other information, but it may also mean more access to DoD databases for TSA.

whatsinyourbag

Maybe to ensure that the passenger processing thru is not on a watch list...

jkhuggins

As has been pointed out in this forum many times: IDs aren't being compared against the watchlist, they're being compared against boarding passes. There's a relatively simple way to pass through a checkpoint while being on a watchlist as a result of that gap.

dan1431

The gentleman in front of me in line yesterday at DFW asked the agent how showing id/bp is of any value to airline security.

The TSA employee was honest, he said that he had no idea, but somebody in Washington feels checking IDs is important, so he does so.

Oddly my CAC was not accepted as a form of ID yesterday because it says Contractor on it and he was "unsure" if he could accept a CAC from a contractor rather than a direct Gov't employee. Rather than argue I handed him my Passport card which he glanced at and wished me a nice day.

Dan