Posted on 09/24/2012 4:34:29 AM PDT by Evil Slayer
Federal investigators were able to get fraudulent driver’s licenses in all three states where they tried, according to a report released Friday that shows continued problems with states’ ID programs more than 11 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks highlighted the problem.
States are particularly flummoxed by out-of-state documents, according to investigators from the Government Accountability Office who conducted the audit.
The investigators used forged birth certificates purportedly issued by Ohio and New York, and successfully submitted them in three other states.
“In most of these five attempts across the three states, we were issued permanent or temporary licenses in about 1 hour or less,” the audit says. “In only one case did a front-counter clerk appear to question the validity of one of the counterfeit documents, but this clerk did not stop the issuance process.”
The GAO did not name the three states it targeted, but it said states across the country are likely vulnerable to the out-of-state document-fraud issue.
A full verification system that would help states perform checks on out-of-state identities could be a decade away, the investigators said in their report.
The auditors also faulted the Homeland Security Department, which it said has failed to tell states how to carry out key parts of Real ID, the 2005 law that is supposed to tighten rules on how states issue identification cards and driver’s licenses.
In its official response, the Homeland Security Department rejected auditors’ recommendations, saying states are free to collaborate and come up with their own state-to-state systems. The department said it is using federal taxpayer money to help some states that are trying new methods but that it will not push them.
The Homeland Security Department “supports states having the flexibility to adopt innovative solutions and leverage emerging technologies to implement strategies
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
If done by states would be as easy as asking last address and calling information to see if still an active phone and other things like tax records would not take that long.
drop off papers and come back in 1 or 2 days give the agency time to check documents.
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