Real ID Requirements Now In Place

NBC News Radio National Correspondent Rory O'Neill joins us to discuss new requirements surrounding Real ID. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Speaking of flights, if you want to get on one today,
you'd better have a real ID. And though we talked
about it a couple of weeks ago, the numbers actually
surprised me. More than half of us don't have one
of these things. Rory O'Neil, NBC News Radio National correspondent
on the story. Rory, thanks for doing this today, yest.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thankfully we're not all getting on planes today.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, so I get it. You don't have to have
it if you're not somebody that flies around regularly. But
you know, we're Americans and sometimes some of the minutia
is wasted on us. So if you are flying today,
you'd better have one.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Well, right, And now, if you get to the DSA checkpoint,
as we heard from Christy Nome last night, they're probably
not going to turn you away. You will be subjected
to additional screening, but you'll probably get a pass today anyway,
but there's no guarantee. So you need to get the
real ID. That is, your driver's license should have a
star on the upper right hand side of it, because

(00:59):
that means that you have gone through this extra process
to verify the full name and that you actually live
at the address that you provided with the government.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Is that it? I mean, I we did it a
long time ago, and I don't even remember the process,
you know, I sometimes I don't pay attention to things
rory sometimes. So this is this is a real will
this really be a security upgrade?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, it's also going to standardize things. So for instance,
I don't want to break the bubble here burst the bubble.
But a lot of people on the radio don't use
their actual names, right, so and some say right, I know,
some use initials. You know, there's a JT in every city,
it seems, but you know, JT is now going to
have to have their full name on the driver's license.

(01:42):
Some states will allow for just a middle initial that's
not the full name, or allow for an apostrophe and
O'Neill like I have and others don't have. And the
system sometimes wouldn't take the apostrophe in it. So there
are all these crazy different things. But now this real
idea sort of standardizes that so that we have the
full name. And because now you have to show either

(02:03):
a lease or a utility bill or something that shows
that you actually live at the address you provide, that's
that real link that shows this is actually who you are,
and this is the address where you live.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
I worked at a radio station that in the sixties
said they were the home of the Jones Boys, and
when Bob Jones, who did afternoon drive, got fired, died,
or quit, they hired another Bob Jones, regardless of what
his name was. I thought you should know well the
IMAGINGI projection I worked with a.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Guy called Salty Brine is sort of a redundant name.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Classic Rory O'Neil, NBC News Radio national correspondent, real name.
Thanks for your time today.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Thanks Steve,