Identity documents in the United States

In the United States, identity documents are typically the regional state-issued driver's license or identity card, while also the Social Security card (or just the Social Security number) and the United States passport card may serve as national identification. The United States passport itself also may serve as identification. There is, however, no official "national identity card" in the United States, in the sense that there is no federal agency with nationwide jurisdiction that directly issues an identity document to all US citizens for mandatory regular use.

There have been proposals to nationalize ID cards, as currently citizens are identified by a patchwork of documents issued by both the federal government as well as individual state and local governments.

It is both a political issue and a practical one, and the idea of federalism is cited as supporting federated (regional) identification. All legislative attempts to create a national identity card have failed due to tenacious opposition from liberal and conservative politicians alike, who regard the national identity card as the mark of a totalitarian society.^[1]

The most common national photo identity documents are the passport and passport card, which are issued by the U.S. Department of State to U.S. nationals only upon voluntary application. Issuance of these documents is discretionary - that is, for various reasons, the State Department can refuse an application for a passport or passport card.

More recently, various trusted traveler programs have been opened to the public in the United States, including TSA Precheck, SENTRI, NEXUS, FAST (Free and Secure Trade), and Global Entry. With the exception of TSA Precheck, which provides a unique “Known Traveler Number”, these programs provide photo IDs issued by the Department of Homeland Security and are considered national photo IDs.

The driver's license, which is issued by each individual state, operates as the de facto national identity card due to the ubiquity of driving in the United States. Each state also issues a non-driver state identity card which fulfills the same identification functions as the driver's license, but does not permit the operation of a motor vehicle.

Social Security cards have federal jurisdiction but cannot verify identity. They verify only the match between a given name and a Social Security Number (SSN) and were intended only for use in complying with Social Security payroll tax laws. They now are used in a wider scope of activities, such as for obtaining credit and other regulated financial services in banking and investments.