Should the U.S. adopt a national ID card system? Many countries issue national ID cards. Post-9/11 security concerns have prompted a debate about whether the U.S. should too.

• Author: Kristof, Nicholas D.
• Position: Debate - Identification

YES Adopting a national ID card system would significantly increase our security with a negligible cost in freedom.

Many people oppose this. But more than 100 nations have some kind of national ID card. And we're already moving toward a government ID system--using driver's licenses and Social Security numbers to prove who we are--but they neither protect our privacy nor stop terrorists. Instead, they promote identity theft.

At least seven of the September 11 hijackers--some living in Maryland hotels--managed to get Virginia ID cards or driver's licenses, which can be used as identification when boarding planes. Americans routinely travel to and from Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean with just a driver's license.

Some U.S. officials privately fret that security may depend on a harried immigration officer in Maine who is handed a forged North Dakota driver's license. A recent undercover federal study underscored the concern: Using off-the-shelf materials, investigators were able to forge documents that were then used to get driver's licenses in seven states and the District of Columbia. The forgeries worked in each place where they were attempted.

So why not plug this hole with a standardized, hard-to-forge national ID card/driver's license that would have a photo, a fingerprint, and a bar code that could be swiped to check whether the person is, for example, a terror suspect who should not be allowed onto a plane? We could simultaneously reduce identity theft and make life tougher for terrorists.

Nicholas D. Kristof

New York Times columnist

NO National ID cards would not protect Americans from terrorism, and would hurt our privacy.

ID cards would not overcome the biggest obstacle to preventing attacks: identifying terrorists before they strike. Only two of the 19 September 11...