I don't have a driver's license either, nor a state ID card. Would you commenters say I'm just a non-person, I have no right to live in this society? Or just that I have to walk across the city, because it's too dangerous to permit me to ride on buses without identifying myself? Do you mind if I bring a backpack too, or would that be a threat to your mental insecurity? Are we all guilty until proven innocent by a little plastic card that nobody even reads?

I can understand military people thinking passes and ID's are fine -- they live in an environment where if somebody tells you to do something, you have to do it. Citizens of free countries don't live in that environment, though. Our interactions with our government are regulated by laws -- not just made-up "orders" from "above". If a guard orders us to suck their wick, we don't have to do it -- it's not a lawful order. And if they order us to show an ID, it's not a lawful order either.

The quintessential image of totalitarian societies is that of the police offer with the ability to stop any citizen on a street corner, at any time, for any reason, and demand to see "their papers." In the Soviet Union, that mean showing the passport...

The more I think about this, the more troubling it becomes. The scary part is...

That our government would adopt such tactics, and that so many people would willingly go along, just shows that the terrorists are winning.

The terrorists want to destroy our way of life and freedoms.

"Our" government is giving them what they want.

How long will it be until the government starts checking names off against lists of enemies or subversives, including those who have spoken out against the people in power?

Probably not long, we've already seen white house staffs of both parties improperly use FBI and IRS records to go after some poltical opponents. Now that the public has been softened up, and they have lots more "just following orders" flunkies, what will keep them from going after all opponents?

I wouldn't have shown my ID either. This is BullShit. It's a CITY bus. What if you come to Las Vegas, a city bus happens to go thru our 'Government' center on the way to a casino. Are you going to show your ID? Ridiculous.

She's not even getting OFF the bus!! The really stupid part is that a CITY bus is going thru that area. It should be routed to go around.

But the issue here is having to show your ID to WHO? And WHY? Bullshit. We are losing our freedoms left and right in this country. She did NOTHING WRONG. It's a city bus!! NO ID required.

I'm told that at one time the bus was allowed into the Sandia exclusion area. The Sandia protective force would check for DOE badges and those without were not allowed off the bus. But there was some kind of incident involving someone without a badge trying to get off the bus in the exclusion area, and the upshot was that the buses no longer went into the exclusion area.

I'm having a hard time getting very worked up on behalf of the lady.

While I don't agree with unreasonable searches without probable cause, I'm not sure showing identification qualifies as a search. What's the fear? Unpaid tickets? A warrant? Illegal status?

As for the probable cause, this is not new to the Patriot Act or response to the GWOT, we all know the police can qualify just about anything as "probable cause".

And, since she's not getting off the bus, it's totally unclear why federal agents have a right to detain people and demand ID despite zero probable cause.

What they should do is ask every one that doesn't want to play along to get off the bus, walk around the federal building, and wait to catch the next one. Maybe they can just eliminate her route all together, so she can pay for a cab. We'll see how passionate she is about it then.

The Denver facility is compromising peoples rights because they to cheap to put in real security. If the facility is so restricted that you need ID to enter, they need to have the government employees switch to an internal bus system at the gate and not allow city busses to enter. Otherwise, they should do ID checks at the building access since there it is somewhat reasonable and only affects those purposely entering the government offices. They don't because it costs money.

This is just another example of lazy and incompetent security measures that eat away at peoples rights implemented because the security isn't considered important enough to properly fund. It's just for looks.

At a minimum, the city should be required to post a sign on the busses on that route stating by riding you give consent to search and seizure. But should using mass transit require you give away your rights?

Sheesh, grow up boys.

Security is mostly about presence and observation.
Her refusal was out of the ordinary (I am assuming she rides the bus on a frequent basis) and as she stated, they do not record nor check the IDs against any list. I do not see how any of her rights have been violated.