Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a law that will allow the state’s fictitious driver’s license program to continue, but only for undercover law enforcement activities. At the bill signing Tuesday, Inslee backed away from a previous statement that he would apply a broad definition of the term “law enforcement.
Under the old program, the Central Intelligence Agency obtained 288 of these so-called confidential driver’s licenses from Washington’s Department of Licensing. It’s unclear if the CIA could continue to qualify for the program under the new law since it is not a law enforcement agency Inslee says his instruction to the Department of Licensing is to apply a strict interpretation of undercover or covert law enforcement activities.
“My feeling is we’re going to follow the law. And the law is clear; it’s in black and white. We’re going to follow the law,” Inslee said.
Asked if that means national security agencies could still qualify for the licenses, Inslee would only say the law would be followed “to the letter.” A spokesman for the Department of Licensing says the agency is working to create an additional layer of oversight to decide who will get these fictitious driver’s licenses in the future.
Inslee also announced that from now on, state agency directors will have to give approval before an employee signs a federal non-disclosure agreement.
Public records indicate since 2005, Washington Department of Licensing employees have signed six such agreements. In March, the Department of Licensing briefly revealed its relationship with the CIA, but now will neither confirm nor deny a partnership. The U.S. Attorney in Seattle recently wrote a letter to the department warning that a release of information would violate federal law relating to matters of national security.
