Scrap TWIC? GAO report slams port credential program
By Charlie Morasch, Land Line contributing writer
Truck drivers and others who work at U.S. ports have grumbled for years about the expenses and hassles of obtaining a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC.
TWIC – a biometric security card capable of storing fingerprints, residency documents and other information – was designed to make ports and major warehouse areas less vulnerable to potential terrorists.
A federal investigative report released this week says the TWIC program’s efforts to implement a remote card reader system haven’t worked, and said Congress should consider scrapping the 10-year-old billion-dollar program altogether and starting over with a new credential.
The Government Accountability Office slammed TWIC in a 12-page statement released Thursday, May 9. The GAO listed eight weaknesses tied to TWIC’s remote reader program that port security could theoretically use to examine workers’ credentials. The statement also slammed TWIC generally.
GAO issued a report on TWIC to congress in 2009 that said Homeland Security “didn’t have a sound evaluation methodology to ensure information collected through the TWIC reader pilot would be complete and accurate.”
In 2011, GAO said the internal control weaknesses in the program’s enrollment, background checks and use “limit the program’s ability to provide reasonable assurance that access to secure areas … is restricted to qualified individuals.”
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