The REAL ID Act 2005 - Official Purposes

The Dictator Clause

A mandatory biometric ID such as the one created by the REAL ID Act of 2005, is an indispensable tool for government
monitoring and control.

Currently REAL ID is required for only very few things but that will change.
The law is written to allow the Secretary of Homeland Security, an unelected federal bureaucrat, to add to the list of official
purposes which require a REAL ID at his or her discretion. That is why this portion of the REAL ID law is referred to as the
Dictator Clause.
Title 6 Code of Federal Regulations
6 C.F.R. 37 (2008). Subpart A of the rule states that
the function of a REAL ID card is limited to official
purposes.
37.1. The final rule defines official purposes as 1)
accessing Federal facilities, 2) boarding Federallyregulated aircraft, and 3) gaining entrance to a
nuclear facility.
37.3. According to Section 201(3) of the REAL ID
Act, however, the DHS Secretary may expand the
definition. REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-13,
201(3), 119 Stat. 231, 312.

REAL ID Final Rules published by DHS, Federal Register, January 29, 2008.
" DHS will continue to consider additional ways in which a REAL ID license can or should be usedDHS does not agree that
it must seek the approval of Congress as a prerequisite to changing the definition in the future as Sec. 201(3) of the Act gives
discretion to the Secretary of Homeland Security to determine other purposes."