A few weeks after assuring the public that a Washington state-issued driver’s license could still be used to get onto Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and other military bases in the Pacific Northwest, Navy brass made an abrupt about-face.

Officials issued a statement Saturday that visitors to military installations in the Pacific Northwest will need to supply a form of identification compliant with the federal Real ID Act.

Effective date of that change was Monday, Feb. 1.

Area Navy officials said they don’t know what triggered the sudden reversal.

“I really have no idea why,” said Navy Region Northwest spokeswoman Sheila Murray.

The decision came from higher up, she said.

The people most affected by the change are visitors to NAS Whidbey.

Basic driver’s licenses issued in Washington state, as well as Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri and New Mexico, won’t cut it. If you’re from one of these states, you will need other forms of ID, such as a Washington state’s enhanced driver’s license or a passport.

Oak Harbor Mayor Bob Severns said he doesn’t think the change will affect the city. Public works employees already use a contractor identification card to get on base.

When the mayor needs to visit, he said he’ll bring his passport.

Service members, family members, Department of Defense employees and federal employees aren’t affected by the change. The identification they use to get on base still works: the DoD common access card, DoD uniformed services identification and privileges cards, federal personal identification verification cards and transportation workers’ identification credentials.

In 2005, the Real ID Act enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.”

The Act established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards and prohibits federal agencies from accepting for official purposes licenses and identification cards from states that do not meet these standards.

Washington state lawmakers have made it impossible for the state Department of Licensing to meet all the federal standards, said Brad Benfield, a spokesman for the DOL.

In 2007, lawmakers passed legislation that kept the state from implementing the changes unless the federal government coughed up the money to pay. Some lawmakers also expressed their concerns about sharing information about Washington state residents with the federal government.

Despite that, the Department of Licensing has made progress toward meeting the more than 40 federal requirements, Benfield said.

The state, for example, he said, is putting in place a new central issuance system that’s more secure, and made routine security updates to process and procedures.

Washington state can’t require people to show “proof of legal presence” to get a license — a key benchmark of the federal government.

In advance of the winter Olympics, the state created an optional enhanced license, which Washington residents can use to enter Canada or Mexico at land crossings or seaports. In order to qualify for an enhanced license, you must be 18 or older and show proof of U.S. citizenship, identification and residency.

The enhanced license works as an acceptable form of identification to get on base.

Whidbey News-Times co-Editor Jessie Stensland contributed to this article.