It shows that the information required goes beyond the need for security. When people want to go to the United States, it's quite normal that the United States have proof of their identity.
But why do you need all this information on people who over-fly the United States? The reason is that it's part of an immense information-gathering process that is going on through the different agencies of the United States, in which information ends up in banks, in data mining, and in putting people on lists.