Grover Norquist will be one step closer to his wet dream come October 27, 2007. This is the date by which all entities in the executive branch are required to issue uniform, government-wide form of identification. This requirement stems from an executive edict known as Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), benign in language and reasonable on its face. However, as with "clear skies" and "healthy forest" initiatives, the implementation details betray what one might in years past call "unintended consequences", but by now has no choice but to take as this administration’s real intent. The result will be intrusive investigations on tens of millions Americans, ruined careers and compromised security.
This story is about NASA rocket scientists, Department of Education scholars, Forest Service volunteers on one side, and the culture of secrecy and privacy invasion, private profit and Carlyle Group on the other.
