The deadline of yet another, and perhaps the most insidious, element of the post-9/11 initiatives (a partial list of which includes the establishment of the Transportation Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and a never-ending international war against a nebulously-defined, noncorporeal enemy, "terror") is less than one year from coming to fruition. Beginning no later than October 1, 2020, citizens of all US states and territories will be required to have a Real ID compliant card or US passport to board a commercial plane or enter a Federal government facility. Pundits citing the inevitability of what amounts to a national ID card have, regrettably, been vindicated.
https://www.aier.org/article/while-you-slept-government-created-internal-passports/
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday November 07 2019, @05:12AM
The point is not to make it utterly impossible to be conquered, of course. They're quite aware they can't do that. They've been conquered many times - most recently by Germany in WWII.
The point is to make sure that any invasion will cost more than it is worth. It's deterrence.
And since they joined NATO, that's another level to it as well. They assume that NATO would come to their defense - but not that their allies are permanently on standby ready to scramble at a moments notice. So in the case of invasion, they'd be hoping they only need to hold out a relatively short time before allies start showing up.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?