By Neil Schuster, AAMVA President and CEO

The media hasn’t yet figured out what to call the closing decade. It may be the oughts, the naughts, or the zeroes, but whatever name applies, it was a time of great challenge and change to many, including the AAMVA community.

We began the decade with a potential crisis – Y2K – that turned out, for the most part, to be needless worry. And less than two years later, we faced a very real crisis – a terrorist attack on U.S. soil that took several thousand lives, including 72 law enforcement officers.

That attack changed our lives in many ways, and made ID security a top priority for our community. By mid-decade, we were helping to develop and then implement federal rules to strengthen DL/ID security. That effort continues, as legislators and policy-makers consider what will work best to meet our nation’s security needs.

The last part of the decade saw a rapid and serious economic downturn that affected us all, with a recovery that most economists predict will be slower than usual. State and local governments have suffered sharp declines in revenue, and AAMVA members now face the challenges of serving the public with perhaps fewer dollars and less staff than ever before.

The economic situation appears to be a defining moment as we begin the new decade. Also, about a week before New Year’s, we learned of a nearly-successful attempted terrorist attack in the U.S. which may well cause legislators and policymakers to look at DL/ID security with renewed interest and scrutiny.

On the safety front, the dangers associated with distracted driving and texting while driving gained great attention recently and will be on the minds of lawmakers and policymakers when they tackle highway legislation in the new decade.

The motor vehicle and law enforcement community will be called to many tables in the “teens” (if that is what the new decade will be called). It will likely be a time of great challenge for all of us, but also an opportunity for us to help overcome those challenges.

Mother Theresa said “Life is a challenge; meet it.” I have no doubt the AAMVA community will do just that.