An interesting post-webcast tidbit ...

Ryan Singel has a great summary of the town hall meeting/webcast up on Threat Level, with this interesting additional information:

Assistant Secretary Richard Barth, flanked by Jonathan Frankel and Darrell Williams, denied they were building a national identification card, and tried to empasize that the proposed requirements were intended to keep terrorists off airplanes.

But afterwards, Frankel told Wired News that applicants for Real ID licenses won't be compared against the government's centralized terrorist watchlist unless states choose to do so, a policy choice made to prevent people from feeling a heavy hand from the government.

Right. There's nothing else in Real ID that would make people feel a heavy hand ... and why would we want to check those terrorist watch lists anyhow? Hmm....

jon