FAIRBANKS — Some visitors to Fort Wainwright are no longer able to enter using just their driver’s license to identify themselves.
Fort Wainwright garrison spokesman Allen Shaw says the Army base in Fairbanks began implementing the REAL ID Act Monday. The 10-year-old law, which set national standards for identification cards, requires those with driver’s licenses from Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington and the U.S. territory of American Samoa to provide additional identification for entrance at the base.
Fewer than half the states are in compliance with the law. Other states, including Alaska, have been granted a waiver to comply by Oct. 10.
The driver’s licenses that are no longer sufficient for entrance at Fort Wainwright aren’t valid because those states and American Samoa haven’t received waivers. Those visitors must present an alternate form of identification, including a U.S. passport or Department of Defense ID card, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.
Shaw said he had not heard of any incidents at the gate resulting from the policy change.
“I think folks were expecting this,” he said.
The federal Department of Homeland Security website states that federally compliant IDs are required to access “military bases and almost all federal facilities.”
