In his article on Threat of National ID, William Safire presents his case against a national system of identification cards. Safire (2001) is critical of the government move to have all Americans carry their national ID as an attempt for infringing on the rights of Americans. He argues that this would be intrusion into the privacy of most Americans and they stand to lose rather than gain from the government scheme.

In this article that was published in New York Time, Safire (2001) compared nation ID cards to a new device that has been developed to assist dog pet owners to track a lost pet.  The device, in form of a small chip, is implanted under the skin on the neck. With the device in place, any animal shelter is in a position to scan the animal and identify the owner with ease. He is quick to point out that this is positive side of such a technology as it would assist owners to find lost pets. However, he is opposed to application of the same technology to spy on each and every American in pretence of fighting terrorism.  It is in the same way that American government would find it easy to trace any body with a national ID. He points out that fear of terrorism does not guarantee Americans' rights to be interfered with since this only brings a false sense of security.  Safire (2001) points out that Americans have already shown their willingness to give up some of their personal rights for security. He contends that Americans do not worry suffering from pat-downs and other security screening measures at the airport sine those means ensures everybody has a peace of mind.

However, he argues that the fear of a terrorism attack should not be used by law enforces to intrude on privacy rights of Americans.  Police have shown no concern to sanctity of individual homes and have already developed heat sensors that look into individual homes.  The federal surveillance system is cutting into all areas of privacy of Americans, including their emails. All this has been implemented in the pretence of getting ahead of terrorism suspects. William Safire argues that the National ID card will be used by "zealots as the holy grail of snoopery" (Safire, 2001).  He stress that implementation of a national ID system would make ever American carry "what totalitarians used to call "papers"" (Safire, 2001).

William Safire opposes National ID Cards on various grounds.  It is presumed that the ID Cards will only contain personal information like full name, signature, and passport picture. However, he points that these are just the entry details that are likely to be used to fool the public.  The National ID Card will contain more accurate information like fingerprints, and with time, other details like DNA description and eye' iris details may also be added (Duke, 2003). This will make it more possible for the government and security agencies to pinpoint you wherever you are.

He argues that the card may contain other information that may affect individual social life as well. The cards may have chips which provide full medial history and this may be used not only in presumed medial emergencies but also in other areas like employment, insurance, and others where such details are required.  With time, merchants may also add credit rating, bank accounts, and other information which expose persona privacy to third party. Politicians would also with time add voting records and political affiliation while police will add arrest records, links to suspicious websites, and many other information. In all, William gives a host of reason why he is opposed to National ID Card as they will be against the privacy of the individual person.

Having this information in the national databank would affect individual life in different ways. There will be people who would be denied rights of movements on accusation of suspected associations. Others will not be able to buy on credit while police and employers would profile individuals based on this information.

In his conclusion, William Safire warns Americans that the National ID Card would not just be a card that speed your life activities like shopping or that will protect them from suicide bombers. Rather, it is a ticket to losing their personal freedom.  It may end being implanted at the back of their neck if its size is reduced to match that used in pets.

Like Safire, I am also opposed to the system of having National ID Cards.  Although the whole concept is developed along the need to provide more security to Americans, it may bring about loss of personal privacy with misuse of the collected information. The idea sounds goods since it would offer protection to Americans and possible point out individuals who may be suspected of terrorism activities but going by what the government has done in name of homeland security, this idea is too good to be true.

What is more astounding is the fact that no one knows the limit of information that will be included in that card. While the government may point out inclusion of basic information like name, signature, and passport sized photo, no one is sure if other information will be included without them knowing. From a noble idea of protecting Americans, the National ID Card may end putting more power on the government to control private life of Americans.