RALEIGH - With the state Division of Motor Vehicles asking for more staff to help implement the federal Real ID Act, expect this session of the General Assembly to feature lively debate over whether Real ID is a nefarious conspiracy or a beneficial initiative.

As a conspiracy theorist, I am inclined to agree with the ACLU's theory that Real ID is a "real nightmare" being used by the "security-industrial complex" to implement a national ID card. The facts, though, suggest otherwise.

On the surface, Real ID is a set of national standards that will make identity theft and fraud more difficult. These include requiring applicants for a driver's license to provide documentation, such as a Social Security card, that proves identity and legal presence. In turn, each state must verify the legitimacy of these documents.

In North Carolina, such verification would have prevented the Division of Motor Vehicles from issuing, in past years, about 27,000 licenses associated with invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers.

Another requirement of Real ID is that states must coordinate efforts to prevent issuing multiple IDs. This includes cross-checking a photo of every applicant against an electronic database. The legislation also obliges each state to give other states access to information contained in this database.

Based upon this requirement, the ACLU argues that "underneath each state's pretty designs" lurks a scheme to "force the states to standardize driver's licenses across the nation into a single national identity card and database."

But permitting other states to access information contained in a driver's license database is not the same as creating a national ID database. In practice, such information sharing will permit one state to notify another when a person applies for a new license in a different state. Consider that the 19 hijackers of 9/11 possessed at least 30 different driver's licenses and IDs issued by five different states. Had Real ID been in effect, this would not have been possible.

Other Real ID myths are easily dispatched by reading the actual legislation, as passed by Congress in May 2005.

For instance, Real ID does not require the collection of additional personal information, except as is necessary to verify identity. Thus the law does not encroach upon personal privacy any more than do current identification protocols. Also, biometrics and radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are not standard in Real IDs.

Real ID is also voluntary. No state is required to participate, and a handful haved said they will not do so. By 2014, Americans under age 50 will no longer be able to board planes or enter federal facilities using IDs issued by these states. If you don't fly and don't plan on touring the White House, you don't need a Real ID. Other secure forms of identification, such as a passport, can also be used as a substitute for a Real ID.

Finally, Real ID will not prevent homeless persons from obtaining identification. In North Carolina this problem will be solved by sending IDs directly to homeless shelters. Victims of domestic violence will likewise be able to obtain IDs through their residential program.

Most important, Real ID will prevent identity theft, which has increased sharply over the past six years. Critics of Real ID, such as the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, are trying to turn this virtue into a vice by claiming that because Real IDs are more difficult to counterfeit, the new standards will create more problems for identity theft victims. This is like saying that people shouldn't lock their doors because a thief might have to break a window to get in.

This is not to say that Real ID does not have costs. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Real ID will cost an additional $8 per license. State Sen. Clark Jenkins, vice chair of the Transportation Committee, believes implementing Real ID will run North Carolina $20 million -- 0.01 percent of the current state budget. Some of this will be covered by a grant from Homeland Security; the rest will have to be funded by the state.

Still, identity theft costs U.S. citizens $68 billion annually. For the 300,000 victims of identity theft in North Carolina each year, $8 a license might seem like a bargain. Even more to the point, Real ID will save American lives. If this is a conspiracy, I am all for it.

(Jameson Taylor is director of policy at the Civitas Institute (nccivitas.org) in Raleigh.)