Report Questions Effectiveness of TWIC After Biometric Card Readers Fail Tests

This story appears in the May 20 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Transportation Security Administration’s $23 million pilot test of Transportation Worker Identification Credential biometric card readers at 17 sites failed to prove that the technology actually works as intended, according to a new government report.

In a 72-page report made public earlier this month, the Government Accountability Office poked holes in the accuracy and reliability of TSA’s nearly 3-year test of the electronic TWIC card readers TSA wants to use to match fingerprints embedded in the credential.

GAO said the testing flaws its investigators identified were so egregious that they “call into question the program’s premise and effectiveness in enhancing security.”

Not only did TSA’s testing fail to collect accurate data detailing the number of TWIC reader card failures at some of the ports participating in the pilot, it also did not keep track of the number of access denials at some port gates, GAO said.

Stephen Lord, director of GAO’s homeland security and justice unit, testified at a May 9 House subcommittee hearing that the pilot test report TSA sent to Congress was so riddled with errors that Congress should delay its mandate for the U.S. Coast Guard, which enforces security at the nation’s ports, to issue a final rule detailing the card reader requirements.

“Given that the results of the pilot are unreliable for informing the TWIC card reader rule on the technology and operational impacts of using TWICs with readers, Congress should consider repealing the requirement that the Secretary of Homeland Security promulgate final regulations that require the deployment of card readers that are consistent with the findings of the pilot program,” Lord told the House Subcommittee on Government operations.

TSA disagrees with GAO and reiterated that the card readers “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” — a position TSA initially made in a report to Congress last year.

Steve Sadler, TSA’s assistant administrator for intelligence and analysis, told the subcommittee that the TWIC cards are effective in confirming a holder’s identity and verify that he or she has successfully completed a criminal background check.

“TWIC cards contain security features that make the card highly resistant to counterfeiting,” Sadler testified. “When biometric verification becomes a requirement and readers are in use, we expect this will further enhance security at port facilities and vessels regulated by MTSA [the Maritime Transportation Security Act].”

As a practical matter, the Coast Guard already has begun the TWIC reader rule development process, issuing a March 22 proposed rule requiring that the readers be installed at 38 vessels and 532 facilities that it designated “high risk.”

That means only a small percentage of the 13,825 vessels and 3,270 facilities would be required to use card readers. Those which are not deemed high risk would be required to continue visual inspections of TWIC cards.

The proposed Coast Guard rule is in the public comments stage, and Sadler told the subcommittee he is uncertain when the final rule will be issued.

The GAO report was the latest in a string of criticisms leveled against the TWIC program by some members of Congress and transportation workers.

In prior reports, GAO investigators said they gained access to ports with fake TWICs and successfully applied for TWICs using false identities.

At the May 9 hearing, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the subcommittee’s chairman, was highly critical of TSA for numerous delays in implementing the TWIC program.

“For the money we’ve spent and for the results we have gotten, this is a pitiful commentary to be here May 2013 and still in this situation,” Mica said.

Other subcommittee members questioned if it was time to explore such other government models as those used by the Department of Defense to secure military facilities.

In recent months, truck drivers and other port worker have criticized TSA for long delays in receiving 3-year extensions to their TWIC renewals.

TSA is attempting to make it easier and cheaper for the 2.3 million TWIC holders to continue working at U.S. seaports after more than 1 million of those initial 5-year credentials expire between now and Dec. 31, 2014.

In a written statement, the Department of Homeland Security said last week that it has established a working group to better understand current concerns about the TWIC program and to assess the potential benefits and challenges of requiring reader use.