WASHINGTON, D.C. — The ‘80s sitcom “Cheers” was about a Boston bar “where everybody knows your name.” This image appealed to people because we’re so much more mobile and anonymous in today’s modern society than our ancestors were in their villages and small towns.

And it’s precisely because not everybody knows your name nowadays in this Age of Terror that we need to have a secure system of identification.

Instead of a centralized national ID card, our country has a decentralized system that’s based on state driver’s licenses. This is consistent with our traditions of federalism and in any case may well be safer, because abuses or security breaches can be confined to a single state.

But however we handle this issue of IDs, we need to maintain high standards, so that it’s difficult to steal a person’s identity or invent a fictitious one. An insecure system of IDs is an invitation to terrorists, drug smugglers, illegal aliens and others to use fake documents as a way to evade the law.

This is why the 9/11 Commission wrote that the federal government “should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.”

The 9/11 hijackers had dozens of state IDs, which they used to rent cars and apartments, open bank accounts, take flying lessons, board planes, and generally fit into American society.

It is just for this reason that President Bush recently signed into law the REAL ID Act, which sets uniform standards for state driver’s licenses, among other things. The law says that if a driver’s license is to be accepted for federal purposes — like boarding an airplane or entering a nuclear power plant — the state has to follow certain rules, like verifying the other documents a person presents when applying for the license and verifying that the applicant is not an illegal alien.

Some in Congress have been trying to tighten up the state driver’s licenses rules for almost 25 years, since Sen. Alan Simpson introduced a bill to do that in 1981. Such efforts have repeatedly been rebuffed, either out of privacy concerns or because supporters of increased illegal immigration knew that secure IDs would make it easier to enforce the law.

But the terrorist attacks served as a wake-up call. At least two of the 9/11 hijackers had overstayed their visas, and thus their state-issued IDs would have expired had the new REAL ID rules had been in place at the time.

And as legal means of entry become increasingly difficult for terrorists, they will seek to enter illegally, making access to government-issued IDs all the more important.

In fact, the 9/11 Commission’s counsel recently told the Senate Judiciary Committee of al Qaeda operative Nabil Al-Marabh, who sneaked illegally over the Canadian border in mid-2001 and was found to have received five Michigan licenses in 13 months, plus licenses from Massachusetts, Illinois, and Florida.

REAL ID is needed because, even after 9/11, our state-based identification system remains in serious trouble.

The Coalition for a Secure Driver's License cleverly has ranked the states according to the Homeland Security Department's color-coding system, with too many states still in the red, "severe risk" category.

Among the continuing problems: Over the past six years, Utah has issued 56,498 driver licenses and 37,481 non-driver IDs to people without Social Security numbers — such as illegal aliens. In New York State, one Social Security number was used to get 57 driver's licenses. And it came to light this spring that an illegal alien in Florida presented a driver's license so he could go to work — at a nuclear power plant!

To quote the 9/11 Commission again: “Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft.” The United States can’t be secure without a secure ID system.

NATIONAL ID CARD IS COSTLY AND BUREAUCRATIC BUT DOES LITTLE TO STOP DEDICATED TERRORISTS

COLUMBUS — When it passed the Real ID Act of 2005 in May, Congress took another step in the name of fighting terrorism, but one that may turn out to be counter-productive.

The legislation imposes federal requirements on the states in how they issue driver's licenses. It gives the states three years to bring their driver's licenses into conformity with specified requirements. If a state fails to comply, no person will be able to use that state's driver's license as identification for federal purposes, including "boarding any federally regulated commercial aircraft." So if a state does not comply, its residents will not be able to fly on airplanes.

The stated purpose is to make it harder for terrorists to get a driver's license that could be used to board an airplane. Of course, states already have their own requirements for issuing driver's licenses. It is unclear whether the Real ID Act procedures would stop a terrorist who otherwise would be able to get a driver's license.

The Real ID Act is drawing criticism from a variety of perspectives. States traditionally have been able to issue driver's licenses by rules they devise on their own. By the Real ID Act, Congress has federalized this activity.

States would have to demand from an applicant an identity document that shows full name and date of birth, a document showing residence, and proof of the person's social security number. They would have to put their information on all drivers’ licenses into a database that would be available to other states, and to the federal government.

All this checking will require staff time at local driver's license agencies. State governors are concerned that the Real ID Act appropriates no funds to help the states meet these costs. The checking may also cause delays in agency offices, as applicants wait for their documentation to be verified. Staff must check the authenticity of a birth certificate. Staff must verify with the Social Security Administration that the social security card shown by the applicant is valid.

Privacy groups fear that the Real ID Act will facilitate identity theft. With so much information in a single database, people intent on stealing identities will have a treasure trove if they can hack in, or if they can find a staff worker to bribe.

A number of states have already experienced problems with staff workers selling information to potential identity thieves. The single national database will be an even greater temptation.

One matter the local driver's license agency will be required to check is that the person is not an unlawful immigrant. This will turn the states into enforcers for the federal government on immigration. A non-citizen will have to present a visa, and the staff will have to verify that the visa is valid.

One stated goal of the Real ID Act is to keep persons illegally in the U.S. from gaining a driver's license that would let them fly on airplanes. The Real ID Act does not prohibit a state from issuing a driver's license to an illegal migrant, but such a license be marked differently so that it will not be a document that can be used to board an aircraft.

The potential advantages to security from the Real ID Act are doubtful. The down sides are obvious. The Real ID Act may turn out to be a law we come to regret.