Nearly 7 percent of travelers flying through U.S. airports still do not have a REAL ID-compliant form of identification, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill wrote in prepared remarks submitted ahead of a May 20 hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
The new enforcement began on May 7, marking the end of repeated delays to implement a key post-9/11 security measure. Under the REAL ID Act of 2005, standard driver’s licenses must meet stricter federal security standards to be accepted at airport checkpoints. More than 93 percent of passengers now present either a REAL ID or an acceptable alternative, such as a passport, McNeill said.
