~ intelligence, terrorism and the loss of public records ~

State agencies that manage vital records, driver licenses and other documents with personal identifiers are starting to implement new procedures for handling and releasing these documents, in accordance with the requirements of S. 2845, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-458).

This article in the Muscatine Journal, Iowa suggests that agencies, promulgating uniform standards in order to receive federal money, may make access to vital records by genealogists, journalists and other unrelated parties more difficult.

Gray said they were told that access to birth and death records will be limited to family members who have a legal reason to see the records. After Jan. 1, 2007, the records will be off limits to the public and media. It's not clear yet whether other exceptions will be made as some details of the law have not been finalized.

H.R. 418 REAL ID Act of 2005 will add another element to this law requiring state employees pass background screening.