Last spring, investigators in Florida, Michigan and Maryland arrested several people connected to a scam that allowed illegal aliens to obtain valid drivers' licenses.

That wasn't a novel scheme. Similar cases have come forth this year in Oakland, Calif., and in Colorado. Meanwhile, it's worth noting that nearly all the 9/11 hijackers possessed valid U.S. drivers' licenses, which gave them the legitimacy to escape detection while plotting their attacks.

Earlier this week this newspaper revealed that Utah has been so lax in enforcing its own laws that it has created loopholes you could drive a truck through. Many people are obtaining commercial drivers' licenses without having to show they have a permanent address here. Documents show that 1,895 people obtained licenses by listing the headquarters of C.R. England, a trucking company, as their address.

Apparently, state and federal laws are colliding head-on with a nationwide trucker shortage — a shortage that could affect the economy if goods cannot be delivered. Surely, state lawmakers can come up with a solution that satisfies the industry's needs and the public's need for safety.

This isn't so much an illegal-alien issue as it is a Homeland Security concern. Last year, we were concerned about the effort to remove drivers' licenses from illegal aliens who could prove residency, but the new law, allowing them to have a "driving privilege card" was a good compromise.

At least it requires drivers to establish a proof of residency. Without that, the nation could be just as vulnerable to attack today as it was four years ago.

No one is alleging that C.R. England is operating a scam or an illegitimate operation. It is a well-respected trucking firm that acknowledges housing applicants from out of state in order to meet a market need. It operates six such driving schools nationwide. But the state's concerns should be broader than that, and a recent Utah attorney general's opinion said the practice of granting out-of-state students commercial drivers' licenses violates both state and federal law.

Documents show state officials have worried about this for years. The FBI found evidence that facilitators have charged people a fee for providing a quick Utah license to people who don't live here.

Lawmakers may already have found a workable solution. Rep. Jeff Alexander apparently wants to sponsor a bill that would form a new category of short-term commercial licenses for out-of-state residents — one that would hold them over for a short time until they can be trained here and then obtain a license in their home state. That would work, providing no one could use such a temporary card for mischief before it expires.