rickg523

I don't believe ID confirmation is a security issue at all. It's a commercial consideration, pure and simple. If the TSA checkpoints disappeared tomorrow, do you think the airlines wouldn't still demand the ticketed passenger be named and prove their identity? To keep people from reselling the tickets they bought 7 months ago to someone who needs a ticket today and will be otherwise be forced to pay the walk up fare.
As for using ID check as the framework for behavioural profiling, I agree that beyond bag and body scans, it's a good idea to look a person in the eye and ask "you carrying any bombs or incendiary devices" but what does a so-called Real ID have to do with that? What does it have to do with anything beyond creating a framework to track civilian movement? Sorry, but history seems to indicate that a government that tracks civilian movement inevitably controls and curtails civilian movement.

GUWonder

The passenger ID and boarding pass cross-checks to go airside at US airports was initially done to restrict the volume of people going airside and therefore being subjected to security screening at airports to get airside. The goal was to be able to spend more time screening each passenger and their belongings using the human resources already on hand for screening for WEIs. It was also done because they wanted to increase the frequency and capability to have passengers hit by CAPPS-driven screening across US airports.

CAPPS-driven screening was possible even without ID being shown. So the idea that ID — REAL ID even — is needed for security is questionable at best. No less so when predictable algorithmic selection for additional scrutiny are more easily evaded than truly random selections for additional scrutiny.

WillCAD

And the ID/BP cross check wasn't even the beginning. In the beginning, a traveler was only required to show a BP to enter the checkpoint, be screened, and gain access to the sterile area; as you said, limiting the sterile area to ticketed passengers only was implemented to reduce the volume of people screened, since the post-9/11 screening was ostensibly more thorough and time-consuming than it had been pre-9/11.

However, a series of high-profile stowaway incidents, one of which, I believe, resulted in the tragic death of someone who stowed away in an aircraft's landing gear, embarrassed TSA in the public's eyes ("They got in even though they didn't have tickets! How do we know they weren't carrying bombs!? Anything could have happened! DO SOMETHING!") At least one of the stowaways had gained access to the sterile area by using someone else's discarded but valid BPs. In response, TSA began matching the BP with an ID, to ensure that only the person whose name was on the BP could use it to gain entry to the sterile area.

Even then, stowaways slipped past the TDC with mismatched ID and BP, so TSA once again responded to their embarrassment by implementing the mandatory marking of BPs. They also implemented the program known here by such nicknames as The Name Game and Enhanced Chat-down, in which travelers were forced to state their names aloud and/or answer invasive questions from a TDC. Fortunately, that outrageous foolishness didn't last long (I suspect it was discontinued as much due to TSO complaints of how hard it was, as to passenger complaints about harassment, rights violations, delays, and inconvenience).

Fast forward to today, and the entire country seems convinced that the ID check is some sort of magical Terr'ist Detector and Repeller. The twisted and insane logic, I believe, is that real Terr'ists don't have IDs, so if they can't get on a plane without showing ID, then Terr'ists will never again be able to get onto a plane as a passenger.

Well, then, we point out - what about fake IDs. Any high school or college student in the US can find fake ID somewhere to use for alcohol purchase, so why couldn't a Terr'ist buy a fake ID? Whoops, time to tighten up ID standards so Terr'ists can't get fake IDs to gain access to airplanes under false names and commit Terr'ist activities. Hence, Real-ID, which has significantly more onerous and complex identity-proof standards and makes it more difficult to get a legit ID under false pretenses. THough, of course, it doesn't prevent forgers from marketing other false documents...

This ID obsession had gotten way out of hand even before Real-ID came along, and it's only going to get worse.

Boggie Dog

Fake "Real" ID's are readily available.

We one one of the longest running fake id suppliers in the world.

I have no need for such but if ID's are being sold on the net then I think it's safe to say that real, passable, ID's are available from other sources, like foreign government intelligence agencies.

I don't think a future attack on commercial aviation will come from a passenger. It's much too easy to infiltrate ground operations and plan a strike from there.

TSA's ID vetting process is just another virus contamination point. How many of us have witnessed a TDC change gloves while waiting in line? I have never seen the TDC change gloves!

On the war to prevent further virus contamination, which is an aviation safety issue, TSA has unwittingly become the enemy.