The Department of Homeland Security is once again postponing the requirement of Real ID for travelers to 2025 after years of delays. 

Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005, putting into law a suggestion from the 9/11 Commission that the federal government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.” 

The law requires that U.S. travelers have to show a Real ID state identification cards or driver’s licenses when going through places like TSA security checkpoints at airport and other federal locations. It was supposed to take effect on May 3, 2023, but it will now go into effect on May 7, 2025. This most recent delay makes the third time it has been prolonged past its expected date, with the first time being because of the pandemic. 

The law was passed after it was discovered that almost all of the September 11 hijackers had state identification or U.S. driver’s licenses to get on commercial aircraft. They had reportedly secured the majority of the identification items fraudulently. 

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States treat the Real ID requirements differently, with places like New York, Minnesota, and Michigan allowing people to instead get an Enhanced Driver’s License, which has a flag instead of a star. These documents can be utilized by people instead of a passport in certain areas. Washington state only allows people to get the Enhanced Driver’s Licenses and doesn’t offer Real ID. 

“Real ID progress over the past two years has been significantly hindered by state driver’s licensing agencies,” Dan Velez, the New England spokesman for the TSA, said. “The extension is necessary to give states the needed time to ensure their residents obtain a Real ID-compliant license or identification card.” 

The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the program and said the most recent delay is in part due to the “lingering impacts” of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For the past two years, it said in a statement, advancement has been “significantly hindered by state driver’s licensing agencies having to work through the backlogs created by the pandemic,”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also discussed the delay of the implementation, noting it will allow jurisdictions to make sure people can get the licenses they need in order to travel. 

“DHS continues to work closely with US states, the District of Columbia, and the US territories to meet REAL ID requirements,” Mayorkas said in a statement. “This extension will give states needed time to ensure their residents can obtain a REAL ID-compliant license or identification card.”

South Carolina became the second state in the union Monday to permanently ban state employees’ electronic devices from using TikTok amid federal officials sounding the alarm that the Chinese-based social media app threatens national security.

Growing security concerns over the social media platform have caught lawmakers’ attention recently after the Federal Communications Commission said the government agency could not regulate the social media app or control American data from flowing back to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who requires companies to share its data upon request under the country’s 2017 National Intelligence Law.

Heeding warning signs from federal officials, Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina took action against state employees, alleging the app poses “a clear and present danger to its users,” as a growing bi-partisan coalition in Congress continues to push for a national ban on TikTok.

“Protecting our State’s critical cyber infrastructure from foreign and domestic threats is key to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our citizens and businesses,” McMaster wrote in the letter to the state’s Department of Administration Executive Director Marcia Adams.

The Department of Administration carries out standard government functions such as internet services, managing mobile devices, computers, and other online devices at state agencies focusing on cybersecurity.

In his letter to Adams, McMaster requested an accounting of agencies not currently utilizing the shared services, saying several state agencies continue operating in a “silo.”

“I ask that you provide my office with a listing of state agencies for whom the department is unable to permanently block access to TikTok,” he added.

McMaster’s order follows South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who immediately banned state government employees from using the app last week, saying the officials would have “no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us.”

“The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform,” Noem said in a press release.

Other officials in South Dakota have previously sounded the alarm about the harm the app inflicts “garbage content” on American children and students. In contrast, China’s student base has access to educational content.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher introduced legislation last month to outright ban the app in the U.S., warning that CCP officials use the app “subtly indoctrinate American citizens.”

“TikTok is a major threat to U.S. national security,” the senators said, adding, “unless TikTok and its algorithm can be separated from Beijing, the app’s use in the United States will continue to jeopardize our country’s safety and pave the way for a Chinese-influenced tech landscape here.”

Rubio said that “no company is truly private” in China.

TikTok officials responded to federal officials, saying the company remains confident that it’s on a path to reaching an agreement regarding national security concerns with the federal government.