Officials show sign of retreat

WASHINGTON --- Homeland security officials on Friday hinted at a possible face-saving deal to end their standoff with a handful of states over new driver's license rules -- a dispute that, if left unresolved, could cause big air travel headaches.

For weeks, the Homeland Security Department has been headed toward a showdown with some states over a law called Real ID, which would require new security measures for state-issued driver's licenses. Yet a late Good Friday letter from a top DHS official suggested Washington might be backing away from a messy fight.

South Carolina, Maine and Montana are the only states that have not sought extensions to comply or already started toward compliance with Real ID, which was passed after the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

On Friday, the federal agency granted Montana an extension, even though state officials didn't ask for one and insist they will not adhere to the Real ID law.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer told The Associated Press that DHS "painted themselves in a corner."

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had warned that if holdout states do not send a letter by the end of March seeking an extension, come May, residents of such states will no longer be able to use their driver's licenses as valid ID to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.

Such travelers would instead have to present a passport or be subjected to secondary screening.

Five senators -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Jon Tester and Max Baucus of Montana, and John Sununu of New Hampshire -- appealed to Mr. Chertoff last week to exempt all 50 states from the looming deadline.

Mr. Chertoff responded it was not he but Congress that picked the date when the law went into effect in 2005.

Yet on Friday, DHS Assistant Secretary Stewart Baker wrote to the attorney general of Montana, saying that even though the state was explicitly not seeking an extension, it would be granted one anyway. Mr. Baker reasoned the state's new license security measures already met many of the Real ID requirements anyway.

The agency's approach to Montana could provide an easy way out for the remaining states resistant to Real ID -- and suggests the federal government doesn't want to go ahead with its plan to conduct extra screening on residents of certain states.