GAO Says Workers Were Issued TWICs Despite Some Having Criminal Records

A new congressional report charged that transportation workers with criminal records have been issued Transportation Worker Identification Credentials because federal officials are being denied full access to the FBI’s criminal history database.

The Government Accountability Office’s Dec. 8 report said that because the FBI considers the Transportation Security Administration, which issues the TWIC cards, a “noncriminal justice agency,” it cannot legally share all its criminal background information with TSA.

“According to TSA, this level of access only allows a limited view of criminal history record information, as opposed to a more expanded level of access accorded criminal justice agencies,” GAO said.

The TWIC biometric identification cards are issued after an in-depth “security threat assessment” to mariners and other transportation workers to allow them unescorted access to secure areas of seaports, vessels and other maritime facilities.

Not all criminal convictions can lead to a TWIC disqualification.

Transportation workers can be denied TWICs if they lack proper immigration status, have a connection to terrorist activity, lack mental capacity or have been convicted of any of 24 criminal offenses — ranging from murder and narcotics trafficking to fraud, robbery and rape.

Of the 24 crimes, 10 permanently disqualify a worker from a TWIC and 14 of them are “interim” disqualifications and permit a waiver.

The “noncriminal” information passed on to TSA for TWIC background criminal checks generally contains the same limitations the FBI provides for determining employment suitability, licensing determinations, immigration and naturalization matters and national security clearances, according to GAO.

It includes information from federal-level criminal history as well as state-level criminal history records from the 15 states that participate in the FBI’s National Fingerprint File Program, but not any of the other 35 states.

A TSA spokesman said the agency concurs with GAO’s findings and has initiated steps to implement GAO’s recommendations. But, the spokesman said, TSA “perpetually vets more than 14 million records per day, adjudicates more than 12,000 cases per week and responds to more than 400 redress requests per week.”

The huge records volume is created because, in addition to TWIC background checks, TSA has security credentialing responsibilities for workers in the hazardous materials industry and the airline industry, as well as for some government employees.

TSA spokesman Greg Soule  said the agency and the FBI already have implemented a pilot project to add criminal history information from 22 states.

“The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have also begun discussions regarding another pilot project to address recurrent criminal history inquiries, also known as “rapback,” Soule told Transport Topics.

In conducting research for its report at 17 seaports, including the 10 largest ports, GAO said that some of the ports are doing their own criminal background checks to supplement TSA’s security assessment threat — and discovering holes in the system. In most cases, states are permitted to establish additional credential standards for their ports, and some issue their own credentials on top of the TWIC.

For example, the Port of Miami reported it had denied credentials to 101 applicants, including 52 valid TWIC holders, GAO said.

Port Everglades said it also had turned down credentials to workers with TWICs.

“Among those denied was an individual convicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in 2007, yet issued a TWIC in 2010,” GAO said.

The GAO report was the latest in a series of reports shedding light on serious challenges facing TSA’s security credentials pro-cess for more than 1.8 million stevedores and truckers who work in U.S. ports.

In May, GAO issued a report charging that undercover GAO investigators gained access to a number of security-sensitive port facilities using fake TWICs or by submitting fraudulent application paperwork to receive TWICs.

TSA also has been criticized by congressional investigators for long delays in the TWIC enrollment process and installing biometric card readers at U.S. ports to validate TWIC cards upon entry.

A Coast Guard spokesman did not return a request for comment on when the agency, which is responsible for security at U.S. seaports, planned to issue a proposed rule on the biometric card readers.

In a related development, last week, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) introduced legislation that would attempt to streamline what she called the expensive and “burdensome” TWIC enrollment process. Companion legislation has been introduced in the House.

“For some applicants, the nearest enrollment center can be hundreds of miles away from their home or workplace, requiring two expensive and time-consuming round trips,” Ayotte said in a Dec. 8 statement. “By contrast, comparable secure identity documents such as passports and merchant mariner credentials require only one in-person visit and can be returned to qualified applicants by mail.”