(Not a comprehensive or exhaustive list.)
February 2004: A document entitled “AAMVA DL/ID Security Framework” was produced by AAMVA, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, outlining the history and development of driver license security protocols from 1986 through the 2005 Congressional passage of the national REAL ID Act, including the developmental relationship of the AAMVA with the federal legislation.
2005: REAL ID is passed by the U.S. Congress requiring States to comply with national security standards in order to be in compliance with requirements of a North American treaty designed to integrate passage documents among all North American countries and territories. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), working with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to coordinate state implementation of the standards of the REAL ID regulation, secretly devises a dual plan scheme for cooperating State (compliance) and opt-out States (compatible).
2008: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided the first of a series of annual grants to the Missouri Department of Revenue to pay for REAL ID implementation. (These grants were hidden and never disclosed to the public in general or the Legislature in particular.)
May 2009: Missouri Legislature becomes one of the 14 States to ban REAL ID implementation as part of the federal REAL ID Act opt-out provision – signed into law by Governor Jay Nixon in July – now exposed that the anti-REAL ID State Statute was immediately ignored and circumvented by DOR.
2009: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided an additional annual grant to the Missouri Department of Revenue to pay for REAL ID implementation. (Such annual grants have continued without the DOR disclosing to the Legislature, or Missouri citizenry, such financial relationship between DOR and DHS, or the use of such grants for REAL ID implementation.)
March 2010: DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano sends a letter thanking Senator Nixon for his compliance with REAL ID. (http://themissouritimes.com/2821/nixon-denies-knowledge-of-dhs-letter-thanking-him-for-real-id-implementation/)
July 2010: Starting at this date and for the following 18 month period a St. Joseph, MO fee office became a national hotspot for illegal aliens who were being assisted in obtaining illegal driver licenses. An employee was charged with the crime and is facing federal sentencing. Reports vary, from as few as 100 to over 3,500 illegal licenses. The integrated computer system had fee agents in all 183 offices and DOR’s main facilities watched repeated “fraud alert” warnings on their computer screens. (http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2012/ajanel.ind2.html)
2010 and 2011: Yet other US DHS grants were provided to DOR with no disclosure to the Legislature or citizens of the State of Missouri. DOR uses these grants to continue creating an infrastructure to meet the benchmarks for a REAL ID “compliance” through a “comparable” system.
November 2011: Data regarding CCW holders first given to federal government. (With no oversight or security confirmation protocol – and no notice provided to the Legislature or citizenry.)
August 2012: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Policy, produces a Fiscal Year 2012 Report to Congress entitled Secure Identification State Progress. This report is prepared based on the grant compliance reports supplied by the States’ DMVs – including Missouri DOR officials who repeatedly have lied about any federal funding or REAL ID implementation efforts. (for a detailed outline of this report and links to documents see: http://missourifamilynetwork.net/2013/03/why-are-missouri-lawmakers-so-angry-at-department-of-revenue/ )
October 2012: An indictment is returned from a federal grand jury charging one man and five co-defendants in the fraudulent driver license scheme operated out of a St. Joseph, MO fee office. As the DOR scandal breaks, this case is cited as the catalyst for creating the new system that had been hidden from the Legislature for at least 4-5 years as it was being developed (at least two full years before the St. Joseph fraud case even began).
December 2012: Department of Revenue General Counsel Trevor Bossert internally advises against posting a rule change stating that the “administrative burden” is too high. A rule change under Missouri law would have allowed the legislature, including members of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and public, to be aware of the scanning program. (http://washingtonexaminer.com/mo.-officials-defend-licensing-policy-to-senators/article/2526857)
December 12, 2012: Then-Department of Revenue Director Alana Barragan-Scott writes Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano regarding Missouri’s progress toward complying with REAL ID provisions. “Missouri’s security standards for the issuance of driver licenses and identification cards are comparable to or exceed the substantive security standards of the federal REAL ID Act,” Barragan-Scott wrote. (http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/09/4172253/missouri-flap-on-drivers-license.html)
December 2012: Missouri DOR implements two private contracts it had acquired to facilitate the plans of Missouri’s REAL ID “comparable” system. One contract is with the Oracle group, contracted to build and maintain the platforms for a database system to store, search, and share, scanned source documents of all Missouri driver and non-driver licensees, and CCW endorsed citizens. The second contract is with MorphoTrust USA (headquartered in New Jersey with production facilities in Atlanta, GA. (MorphoTrust is a SAFRAN Company based out of Paris, France whose top CEO is a Muslim Imam.)
December 2012: The State’s 183 local license offices begin to be retooled with new license processing equipment at a rate of about three locations a day. Local fee office contractors and employees grow leery of the new system but fear reprisals if they say anything to anyone.
January 2013: Fee office agents at some locations begin risky questioning of new equipment installers and are told not to tell the general public about the involvement of Homeland Security. Local fee office employees trained to use new equipment are misled that the cameras are not biometric cameras even though they are. Scanning of ALL documents required and agents contracts require cooperation or face immediate reprisals.
January 2013: Data regarding CCW holders given to the federal government for a second time. (Again no security compliance protocol used and no notice provided to the Legislature or citizens.)
January 31, 2013: Senate Bill 252 is introduced in the Missouri Senate by State Senator Will Kraus to prevent the Dept. of Revenue from collecting information, in response to concerns raised by citizens encountering document scanning at a local driver license office.
February 2013: Brave local license office contractors and employees contact Missouri Family Network (a private public policy organization) asking for help to expose what they believe to be unethical, if not illegal, actions they are being required to participate in. Stories from these whistleblowers are confirmed through cross collaboration from testimony provided by agents in different locations around the State.
February 27, 2013: The Senate Transportation Committee hears public testimony on SB 252 whereby the organization Missouri Family Network for the first time publicly outlines local fee office whistleblowers’ concerns over the new licensing system being installed in the State’s 183 local fee offices in violation of the law (32.091. RSMo cited, even though several other State Statutes are now known to have been, or being, violated).
March 4, 2013: Lawsuit filed in Stoddard County Circuit Court (Judge Rob Mayer) regarding data being scanned and saved by the Department of Revenue. Suit filed by Prosecuting Attorney Russell Oliver, acting as a private attorney on behalf of a private citizen.
March 6, 2013: House Bill 787 was introduced in response to the breaking news that DOR is collecting and scanning source documents without Legislative/Statutory authority. The bill seeks to prohibit DOR from retaining copies of source documents used to obtain CCW endorsements on driver’s licenses and nondriver’s licenses. It is sponsored by Representative Todd Richardson (R-152) and Speaker of the House Tim Jones (R-110) along with 36 other House members.
March 7, 2013: HB 818 is sponsored by Representatives Robert Ross and Jason Smith, along with 23 other House members who co-signed, specifying that no state agency or department shall construct, enable, maintain, participate in, or develop a database of the number or type of firearms, ammunition, or accessories that an individual possesses.
March 11, 2013: In a special called hearing, the Missouri House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee questioned the Director and Deputy Director of the Department of Revenue. At that hearing it was first admitted that previous denials that no federal funding was being used to install a new licensing system, was in fact not correct. The admission was related to $183. hole punches paid for by the DHS. (No further admissions were forthcoming at that time.) The 2009-2010 St. Joseph fee office fraud case begins to be the central excuse for creation of the new system – even thought the system was being devised before the fraudulent activities even began.
March 11, 2013: Department of Revenue Director Brian Long states that “at the first suggestion [that] we were sharing source documents, I immediately asked this question of others [and] was repeatedly and independently assured that these scanned documents are not, nor are there plans to, shared with the federal government.” (http://themissouritimes.com/1596/department-of-revenue-document-scanning-addressed-in-legislature/)
March 12, 2013: HB 840 is sponsored by Representatives Wanda Brown and House Speaker Tim Jones, along with 61 other House members, to indemnify local fee offices and clarify that the Department of Revenue must pay for any damages done to any local fee offices if they are entangled in civil actions as a result of the illegal mandates through contractual obligations.
March 12, 2013: In testimony by DOR’s Director of Motor Vehicles and Driver License Division, Jackie Bemboom, in the Stoddard County Circuit Court (Judge Rob Mayer) preliminary hearing, admitted that the new camera system is in fact a biometric camera – despite multiple previous denials from DOR personnel. Under oath she further admitted DOR had options, but choose to use the biometric camera and scan document system.
March 13, 2013: The Director and Deputy Director of DOR is called before a special called hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. During this hearing it is revealed that DOR has repeatedly lied about a series of federal grants from DHS that were being used to install the new licensing system in Missouri. This included the installation of biometric cameras and scanning of citizens’ source documents for all driver licenses, non-driver licenses, and CCW endorsements.
March 13, 2013: HB 859 is sponsored by Representatives Rick Brattin and John McCaherty along with 12 other co-sponsors, to allow for conversion of concealed carry endorsements to concealed carry permits and remove all CCW involvement with the DOR.
March 14, 2013: HB 872 is Introduced by Representatives Dave Schatz and Glen Kolkmeyer along with 45 other House members to remove the renewal requirements for concealed carry endorsements making them valid for life if not suspended or revoked – thus eliminating any need to renew or require Missouri’s 180,000+ CCW endorsed citizens to every have to revisit a fee office for renewal again.
March 25, 2013: HB 886 is introduced by Representative Kurt Bahr (R), authorizing the General Assembly to remove any department director or deputy director if it determines that the removal is necessary for the betterment of the public service.
Arch 25, 2013: HB 887 is introduced by Representatives Chris Kelly, with Jay Barnes and 2 other House members, to prohibit the Department of Revenue from selling or disclosing certain driver record information that is not currently prohibited.
March 26, 2013: Missouri Senate subpoenaed all documents from Department of Revenue, the first time subpoenas had been issued by the body in almost 25 years (and the first time in State history for Subpoenaing documents), and Senator Kurt Schaefer noted that he resorted to the subpoena because “at this point we really can’t rely on what the Revenue Department has told us about what they’re doing and how they’re paying for it.” (50 boxes containing 150,000 – 200,000 pages of documents are produced in response to the subpoena, while Gov. Nixon is publicly claiming nothing is happening.) (http://www.missourinet.com/2013/03/27/senate-subpoena-demands-revenue-documents-audio/)
April 3, 2013: Governor Jay Nixon denied any data was being transferred to the federal government, saying “This Department of Revenue and this State of Missouri is not collecting a bunch of unuseful data to send to some sort of magical database someplace to mess with people.” (http://www.missourinet.com/2013/04/03/nixon-state-not-feeding-database-of-missourians-personal-info-enforcing-real-i-d/)
April 9, 2013: 14 Missouri Senators call for an audit of the Department of Revenue.
April 10, 2013: Missouri State Highway Patrol Col. Ron Replogle notifies Senator Kurt Schaefer that CCW data had been transferred to the federal government twice. He confirmed this in a hearing on April 11th, noting that he had known about the information transfer for four weeks. (http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/highway-patrol-gave-feds-missouri-weapon-permits-data/article_266b644e-a235-11e2-a8e7-0019bb30f31a.html)
April 11, 2013: Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer inquired of the Social Security Administration and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano regarding how the data has been used and whether the data has been shared.
April 11, 2013: Missouri House of Representatives passed HB787, sponsored by State Representative Todd Richardson, 139 yes votes to 13 no votes to prevent Missouri Department of Revenue from sending Missouri government documents to the federal government, as well as taking appropriate steps to stop the scanning of documents and biometric photos.
April 11, 2013: Speaker Tim Jones called for Attorney General Chris Koster to form a special investigatory committee to look into allegations.
April 11, 2013: Senator Eric Schmitt, chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules writes the Department of Revenue and asks for an answer as to how the department did not violate Chapter 536 RSMo when they chose not to post a rule change when beginning the scanning program.
April 12, 2013: The Office of Inspector General for the Social Security Administration said the agent who received the January 2013 CD was able to read the CCW file.
April 15, 2013: The Office of Inspector General for the Social Security Administration changes course and said the agent could not open either CD containing the CCW file.
April 15, 2013: Department of Revenue Director Brian Long resigns.
April 16, 2013: Governor Jay Nixon reported that the state will stop scanning CCW permits; “It has been determined that the scanning and retention of concealed carry certificates are not essential to the integrity of the license issuance process,” Nixon said in a news release. “We will continue to work with policymakers to ensure the security and privacy of our license issuance process.”
April 16, 2013: Citizens report that the Governor’s announcement of discontinued scanning only applies to the one single document, but that all other documents are still being scanned for CCW endorsements and other licenses. An understanding which lead many to see Gov. Nixon’s announcement to be a scam at best, or possibly a part of the larger DOR scandal.(?)
April 16, 2013: The Missouri Senate passed SB252 (sponsored by Sen. Will Kraus), with 29 yes votes and 5 no votes. The bill would prohibit the Department of Revenue from retaining copies of source documents used to obtain driver’s licenses, as well as a variety of other measure to stop DOR from scanning documents and using biometric photos. The bill also removes CCW endorsements from DOR and leaves them with local sheriffs.
April 17, 2013: An e-mail indicating ATF involvement in the records request is released. (http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/schaefer-says-atf-bureau-and-social-security-requested-missouris-conceal-carry-weapons-list) The ATF later denied involvement, saying that an employee at the Missouri Information Analysis Center had added their agency’s name to the e-mail to encourage a faster response for the SSA request.
April 18, 2013: Representative Casey Guernsey submitted a sunshine request to Governor Jay Nixon to request copies of all documents relating to the scandal.
April 18, 2013: Representative Nick Marshall files House Remonstrance #1 along with 95 other members of the House of Representatives. HRM 1 condemns the release of private protected information on concealed carry endorsements, remonstrates against executive departments, and demands the Governor investigate, discipline and remove those responsible.
April 20, 2013: Attorney General Chris Koster declined to comment regarding the Dept. of Revenue scandal while in Springfield, MO.
April 23, 2013: Nixon and DOR officials are subpoenaed for depositions in the case which originally brought this issue to the state’s attention. (http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/04/23/gov-nixon-dept-of-revenue-face-subpoena-over-license-suit/)
April 30, 2013: Senator Ed Emery files SRM 1 as a Senate Remonstrance against the Governor for the release by the Department of Revenue and the Department of Public Safety of personal protected information which has been publicly admitted by the departments, demanding that Governor Nixon comply with requests for information. (http://themissouritimes.com/2772/emery-files-remonstrance-against-nixon-over-dor-controversy/)
May 1, 2013: The Senate Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, chaired by Senator Eric Schmitt, called in acting DOR Director John Mollenkamp, the Division of Driver licensing Jackie Bemboom, and others for questioning focused on Title 12 DOR, Division 10 DOR, Chapter 24 Driver License Bureau Rules, including, but not limited to, policies and procedures relating to issuance of driver licenses which require promulgation of rules pursuant to Chapter 536. RSMo. The results of which was an exposure of the fact that yet another violation of law has occurred with DOR’s secret scandal leading them to avoid legal rulemaking procedures in an attempt to hide system process changes from the Legislature. (Chapter 536. RSMo)
May 1.2013: The Senate Appropriations Committee questioned and took testimony from Special Agent Keith Schilb, Office of Inspector General, Social Security Administration (as per a special Subpoena) regarding the CCW endorsement lists supplied by Missouri State officials, to confirm details about the national implications related to the breach of public trust with DOR’s scandal.
May 3, 2013: Gov. Nixon fails to honor subpoena after negotiating an alternative response.
Other potential items of interest:
News-Tribune op-ed: “Thwarted by bureaucratic ‘Who’s on first?’ routine” (http://www.newstribune.com/news/2013/apr/19/our-opinion-thwarted-bureaucratic-whos-first-routi/) – goes through the changing stories and the agencies at the root of it, including DOR, MIAC, SSA, and the ATF.
Southeast Missourian: “Stoddard County concealed-carry policies brought to court” (http://www.semissourian.com/story/1949667.html)