Four years after hijackers showed driver’s licenses to board planes used in the 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress passed the “Real ID” Act to force states to exert greater oversight of the primary identification Americans use when they fly domestically. Now, after 13 years of delays and extensions, the Trump administration has fixed a hard deadline of October for states to comply. Under the law, all airline travellers must display a new, technologically advanced license if they wish to board a plane. But privacy advocates warn that the program, with its requirement of data and photo sharing between states and the federal govt, carries with it some Orwellian implications. To compel compliance, the Trump administration is threatening to bar airline passengers if their license isn’t “Real ID” approved. <br/>
general
Frazzled travellers snoozed on floors, and dozens of suitcases sat unclaimed as a welter of wintry problems — from a snowstorm to a burst water pipe — extended flight delays at Kennedy Airport into a fourth day Monday. The agency running the airport vowed to investigate the fiasco. More than 115 flights of the day's roughly 600 were canceled, and about 100 were delayed at one of the nation's busiest airports. And the forecast called for a bit more snow and sleet Monday night. "What happened over the weekend was a completely unacceptable performance," said Rick Cotton, executive director of Kennedy Airport's owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He pledged to bring in outside experts and investigators to dissect the breakdowns and improve communication and contingency plans. <br/>