Today’s Washington Post reports on the growing and diverse opposition to the federal government’s plan to create a national identification card:

As Bush’s ID Plan Was Delayed, Coalition Formed Against It

Inspired by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a sweeping federal law to tighten security requirements for driver’s licenses is in jeopardy of unraveling after missteps by Congress and the Homeland Security Department, analysts and lawmakers said.

While Washington has delayed implementing it, a rebellion against the program has grown. Privacy advocates say the effort could create a de facto national ID card. Meanwhile, state officials charge that complying with federal requirements will cost $11 billion and potentially double fees and waiting times for 245 million Americans whose licenses would have to be reissued starting next year.

The issue threatens to turn into a partisan fight. The White House expects to release its driver’s license plan, Real ID, this week and has warned congressional critics not to thwart or further delay a program that was recommended by the Sept. 11 commission.

“If we don’t get it done now, someone’s going to be sitting around in three or four years explaining to the next 9/11 commission why we didn’t do it,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee on Feb. 13.

Critics in both parties will try to delay the launch of the program by offering an amendment to legislation that Senate Democrats are pushing to implement remaining changes suggested by the Sept. 11 commission.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the homeland security panel, said in a statement that Real ID may not provide real security and that it is opposed by states “because it is overly burdensome, possibly unworkable, and may actually increase a terrorist’s ability to commit identity theft.” [full text]

For more detailed analysis of the myriad ways in which the Real ID plan is real problematic, real burdensome, and real unnecessary, visit www.realnightmare.org, a companion site of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Electronic Privacy Information Center also provides extensive information and history on the Real ID Act here.