Coast Guard Should Reconsider TWIC After Critical GAO Report, Ports Say
This story appears in the June 24 print edition of Transport Topics.
The trade association representing the nation’s ports called on the U.S. Coast Guard to reconsider several proposals concerning the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, largely due to recent criticism by the Government Accountability Office.
The American Association of Port Authorities, which represents 160 seaports, is the latest stakeholder to question the TWIC program, which has been a frequent target of Congress for the yearslong delay in plugging security vulnerabilities at ports.
Specifically, it asked the Coast Guard to delay plans to require TWIC electronic card readers — which match a fingerprint embedded in the card with the holder seeking port access — to be deployed at U.S. ports that are classified “high-risk” for a terrorist event.
“AAPA would like the Government Accountability Office, Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration to be in general agreement on how the rule should be implemented before it is put into place,” said Aaron Ellis, a spokesman for the port trade association.
AAPA said in a comment letter, which was introduced into the record of a June 18 congressional hearing on the TWIC program, that the Coast Guard should reassess the way it plans to classify ports as high-risk.
Only a small percentage of all ports and ships have received the high-risk classification in the proposed Coast Guard rule put forth March 22, and they are the only ones that actually would be required to deploy the card readers if the proposal becomes final.
The group asked the Coast Guard to alter its proposed “risk-based” concept — which separates port facilities and ships into three categories — to require card readers only for the highest risk group.
The Coast Guard’s proposed TWIC reader rule designates just 38 of 13,825 vessels and 552 of 3,270 facilities as high-risk and therefore required to use card readers.
Although the Coast Guard has declined to release the names of those facilities it plans to classify as high-risk, such large facilities as the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Houston are not on the high-risk list, Transport Topics has confirmed.
Stephen Lord, director of GAO’s Homeland Security and Justice unit, said at the June 18 congressional hearing that GAO requested that Congress force a delay in the TWIC card reader rule because it would be based on a flawed reader pilot test.
GAO concluded the flaws in the $23 million pilot test were so egregious that they “call into question the program’s premise and effectiveness in enhancing security.”
Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, also criticized TSA at the hearing, saying that, after more than a decade since the 9/11 attacks, the TWIC program is “no more than an expensive flash pass that costs workers $130.”
Delays essentially have caused the biometric capabilities on the card to be of “little use,” Miller said. “The way this program has been run so far does not give us the confidence that we are on the right course.”
The program was first authorized by Congress shortly after 9/11. The TWIC reader is designed to recognize the holder’s fingerprint template embedded in the card.
Rear Adm. Joseph Servidio, the Coast Guard’s assistant commandant for prevention policy, acknowledged that TWIC had limitations but said it is part of a “layered security strategy.”
“We do see that the TWIC is an enabler for the future, in addition to allowing a migratory worker population to move between various facilities,” Servidio said.
Stephen Sadler, TSA assistant administrator, said TSA disagreed with GAO that the pilot was not a valid test. “Following analysis of the pilot results, TSA concluded that TWIC reader systems function properly when they are designed, installed and operated in a manner consistent with the characteristics and business needs of the facility or vessel operation,” he told members of the subcommittee.
