Too Strange for Fiction - Secret Unit of the DMV in Washington state

An expose in a small-town newspaper in Washington state has revealed a secret program in the state DMV - kept secret even from the Governor - to provide fake IDs to CIA agents. The State of Washington is, apparently, the source for virtually all fake IDs used by the CIA due to this program and DMV employees are afraid to discuss it.

Three weeks ago, DOL officials showed the Sun and public radio’s Northwest News Network a list of agencies that have been issued confidential licenses since 2007. That list included the CIA with 288 licenses, and the Department of Defense with 198, as the top two recipients. Local agencies, including the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office and Bremerton Police Department, were issued fictitious licenses as well. On Monday, the DOL said it could not discuss the original list, citing a nondisclosure agreement some DOL employees sign with the U.S. government. “A lot of information that was compiled should not have been discussed,” DOL spokesman Brad Benfield said, adding later that is was “classified information.” “We simply can’t talk about it anymore without further putting ourselves in jeopardy,” Benfield said.

www.kitsapsun.com...

In other words, people who travel internationally and are from Washington state may be under increased danger of being accidentally tagged as spies or saboteurs when traveling internationally.

reply to post by MrFantastic1


to put it bluntly - WTF ????

1 - anyone who was unaware that " id issuing agencies " have been doling out identity papers to thier governments security services since day one - is an idiot - unfit to be left unsupervised ,

2 - " exposing " this section of the washington state DMV serves zero purpose except to stroke the ego of the perpetrators

3 - anyone who thinks that only washington state supplies divers licences to the CIA is a bigger idiot that anyone cited in point # 1

think about this one logically for a second - do you REALLY think that every CIA false identity has washington state drivers licence ? - really ?????

reply to post by MrFantastic1


I am thinking most likely every state does this; good luck on finding out who these ID's etc. were specifically issued to; because you won't.

You'd think these guys would have their own shop somewhere that can create fake ID's. All the movies and spy shows can't be wrong - I've never seen James Bond have to go down to the local DMV to get his creds.

Originally posted by Aleister
You'd think these guys would have their own shop somewhere that can create fake ID's. All the movies and spy shows can't be wrong - I've never seen James Bond have to go down to the local DMV to get his creds.

What would happen when a CIA case officer has his driver license run through a DMV computer and there's no record? I'm pretty sure they need the cooperation of local authorities to make believable IDs. If they just needed a piece of plastic with a fake name, they could go to the sketchy guy who hangs out next to the local high school.

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
1 - anyone who was unaware that " id issuing agencies " have been doling out identity papers to thier governments security services since day one - is an idiot - unfit to be left unsupervised ,

Please don't call me an idiot. Thank you.

Recording a matter in the public record - such as a newspaper - is an important step in the process of historical verification and this article is extremely important from that perspective. "Strong hunches" and "common sense suspicions" don't replace semi-official validation.

Originally posted by ignorant_ape3 - anyone who thinks that only washington state supplies divers licences to the CIA is a bigger idiot that anyone cited in point # 1

Please don't call me an idiot. Thank you.

I don't believe anyone claimed that Washington state is the only supplier. If you had taken the time to read the article you will note, only, that Washington state - despite having 4% of the U.S. population - supplies a far more significant percent of the NCS cover identities.

I'm sorry my thread made you so terribly upset.

-Cool find, thank you.

I am pretty sure Michigan does this as well. I know people who work(ed) for the Secratary of State and they sometimes got weird requests which they.he/she THOUGHT was for people going into "witness protection" but could very well be CIA/FBI/whatever- The point is, there was/is a procedure in place to do "back room" IDs for whatever reason at the Secretary of State in MI.

I agree with the folks who said "its pretty common knowledge" but THIS is PROOF of what we always suspected.

-Thanks.

Originally posted by DarKPenguiN
-Cool find, thank you.

I am pretty sure Michigan does this as well. I know people who work(ed) for the Secratary of State and they sometimes got weird requests which they.he/she THOUGHT was for people going into "witness protection" but could very well be CIA/FBI/whatever- The point is, there was/is a procedure in place to do "back room" IDs for whatever reason at the Secretary of State in MI.

I agree with the folks who said "its pretty common knowledge" but THIS is PROOF of what we always suspected.

-Thanks.

Yes. Frankly, I think the more important part of the story is the point that senior civil servants within a state government chose to keep the Governor uniformed about a clandestine operation. The fake ID question is really superfluous to the main point, which is, that this is evidence that career civil servants can - and will - isolate the political leadership from operational decisionmaking. It offers proof-point verification - as opposed to strong hunches - that this process has happened, at least, at the state level and allows us to rationally speculate if it occurs at the federal level ... which begins to place some conspiracy theories on a sounder (though not necessarily sound) intellectual footing.

Understandably, however, this is a very nuanced question, ergo, this thread may not necessarily be one in which every ATS member will be able to meaningfully participate. (I've often wondered if it would be possible to mark certain ATS threads as viewable only by people who have submitted a verified score of a certain level or above on an exam like the Miller Analogies Test ... it might produce somewhat more erudite conversations on these highly specific/technical issues. Anyway, this veers a little O/T now ... I might make a suggestion thread.)

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
reply to post by MrFantastic1

 

to put it bluntly - WTF ????

1 - anyone who was unaware that " id issuing agencies " have been doling out identity papers to thier governments security services since day one - is an idiot - unfit to be left unsupervised ,

2 - " exposing " this section of the washington state DMV serves zero purpose except to stroke the ego of the perpetrators

3 - anyone who thinks that only washington state supplies divers licences to the CIA is a bigger idiot that anyone cited in point # 1

think about this one logically for a second - do you REALLY think that every CIA false identity has washington state drivers licence ? - really ?????

You took the words right out of my mouth. Some excellent points.

Originally posted by MrFantastic1

Originally posted by Aleister
You'd think these guys would have their own shop somewhere that can create fake ID's. All the movies and spy shows can't be wrong - I've never seen James Bond have to go down to the local DMV to get his creds.

What would happen when a CIA case officer has his driver license run through a DMV computer and there's no record? I'm pretty sure they need the cooperation of local authorities to make believable IDs. If they just needed a piece of plastic with a fake name, they could go to the sketchy guy who hangs out next to the local high school.

A fair point. Theoretically, though, this assumes they might not also have some ridiculously talented hacker who could create false records as well.


Of course, logic dictates this may be overly complex compared to just getting help from other branches / employees of the government. The only drawback to this that I can see, is it would mean more "outsiders" to keep quiet.

Originally posted by Aleister
You'd think these guys would have their own shop somewhere that can create fake ID's. All the movies and spy shows can't be wrong - I've never seen James Bond have to go down to the local DMV to get his creds.

The first James Bond movie came out in the 60's? They didn't have magnetic strips back then...or computer databases backing up all the information on the drivers.

But someone has to get them somewhere, you don't expect a spy agency to have to go down to the DMV? But the alternative would be fore them to hack their systems and implant the information for the driver's licenses because after all, they need to check out. A simple fake ID is not going to cut it in the spy game. It needs to be legit.

The easiest way for an ID to be issued, yea, is from a DMW worker and the DMW system itself. Now, why this is an issue is beyond me... People didn't realize undercover agents use fake IDs?

One thing to note however, is this is how criminal groups get their IDs as well. Simply one connected person in a DMV can make all the licenses they want. For who they want. It's a catch 22.

reply to post by MrFantastic1

Understandably, however, this is a very nuanced question, ergo, this thread may not necessarily be one in which every ATS member will be able to meaningfully participate. (I've often wondered if it would be possible to mark certain ATS threads as viewable only by people who have submitted a verified score of a certain level or above on an exam like the Miller Analogies Test ... it might produce somewhat more erudite conversations on these highly specific/technical issues. Anyway, this veers a little O/T now ... I might make a suggestion thread.)



I thought that very same thing when you were blasted in on the Citizens Hearing thread....

"Woo woo! It's never our fault - anytime we look like nutters it's always the fault of alien mind control rays or CIA spies! Woooo!"

Trust me, woo-woo UFO nutters - you DON'T want the MSM to look at the UFO question, despite your pleas. It would cause your world to come crumbling down. It's best, for the little sanity you have left, if this stays on the fringes of society. Every time the MSM look at UFOs it causes entire careers of ufologists to be destroyed as their fake credentials, fake military titles, fake backgrounds get exposed ... (Imbrogno isn't the only one, I could list other examples all day)

Link to Proof 1

Here's a question... did they do fishing licenses for spooks as well?