diff --git a/docs/book/security.md b/docs/book/security.md
index eaa581dfac..a6d89d5b36 100644
--- a/docs/book/security.md
+++ b/docs/book/security.md
@@ -82,7 +82,13 @@ default to `off`.
 
 For authentication, OPA supports:
 
-- [Bearer tokens](/rest-api.md#bearer-tokens): Bearer tokens are enabled by starting OPA with ``--authentication=token``.
+- [Bearer tokens](/rest-api.md#bearer-tokens): Bearer tokens are enabled by
+starting OPA with ``--authentication=token``. When the `token` authentication
+mode is enabled, OPA will extract the Bearer token from incoming API requests
+and provide to the authorization handler. When you use the `token`
+authentication, you must configure an authorization policy that checks the
+tokens. If the client does not supply a Bearer token, the `input.identity`
+value will be undefined when the authorization policy is evaluated.
 
 For authorization, OPA relies on policy written in Rego. Authorization is
 enabled by starting OPA with ``--authorization=basic``.
diff --git a/server/authorizer/authorizer.go b/server/authorizer/authorizer.go
index c6e5f30765..962053acca 100644
--- a/server/authorizer/authorizer.go
+++ b/server/authorizer/authorizer.go
@@ -85,14 +85,17 @@ func makeInput(r *http.Request) (interface{}, error) {
 	}
 
 	method := strings.ToUpper(r.Method)
-	identity := identifier.Identity(r)
 	query := r.URL.Query()
 
 	input := map[string]interface{}{
-		"path":     path,
-		"method":   method,
-		"identity": identity,
-		"params":   query,
+		"path":   path,
+		"method": method,
+		"params": query,
+	}
+
+	identity, ok := identifier.Identity(r)
+	if ok {
+		input["identity"] = identity
 	}
 
 	return input, nil
diff --git a/server/identifier/identifier.go b/server/identifier/identifier.go
index b7a6b4653c..6de3ad0d3a 100644
--- a/server/identifier/identifier.go
+++ b/server/identifier/identifier.go
@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 // Identity returns the identity of the caller associated with ctx.
-func Identity(r *http.Request) string {
+func Identity(r *http.Request) (string, bool) {
 	ctx := r.Context()
 	v, ok := ctx.Value(identity).(string)
 	if ok {
-		return v
+		return v, true
 	}
-	return ""
+	return "", false
 }
 
 // SetIdentity returns a new http.Request with the identity set to v.
diff --git a/server/identifier/identifier_test.go b/server/identifier/identifier_test.go
index c78cf80add..1c5b8bbed5 100644
--- a/server/identifier/identifier_test.go
+++ b/server/identifier/identifier_test.go
@@ -11,10 +11,11 @@ import (
 
 type mockHandler struct {
 	identity string
+	defined  bool
 }
 
 func (h *mockHandler) ServeHTTP(_ http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-	h.identity = Identity(r)
+	h.identity, h.defined = Identity(r)
 }
 
 func TestTokenBased(t *testing.T) {
@@ -30,10 +31,11 @@ func TestTokenBased(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		value    string
 		expected string
+		defined  bool
 	}{
-		{"", ""},
-		{"Bearer this-is-the-token", "this-is-the-token"},
-		{"Bearer    this-is-the-token-with-spaces", "this-is-the-token-with-spaces"},
+		{"", "", false},
+		{"Bearer this-is-the-token", "this-is-the-token", true},
+		{"Bearer    this-is-the-token-with-spaces", "this-is-the-token-with-spaces", true},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range tests {
@@ -44,6 +46,10 @@ func TestTokenBased(t *testing.T) {
 
 		handler.ServeHTTP(nil, req)
 
+		if mock.defined != tc.defined {
+			t.Fatalf("Expected defined to be %v but got: %v", tc.defined, mock.defined)
+		}
+
 		if mock.identity != tc.expected {
 			t.Fatalf("Expected identity to be %s but got: %s", tc.expected, mock.identity)
 		}