Oral Testimony On The Safe Port Act by Maurine Fanguy, TWIC Program Director
Testimony & Speeches
- Click here to learn more about TSA's TWIC Program.
- Click here to download a printable version of Maurine Fanguy's full written testimony before the U. S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on October 4, 2007. (pdf, 47kb)
Before the U.S. Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
October 4, 2007
Good morning Chairman Inouye, Vice-Chairman Stevens and distinguished members of the Committee. My name is Maurine Fanguy and I am the Program Director for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, also known as TWIC.
Today, I am here to show you the results of our efforts - the TWIC credential. In all of our previous meetings, we have talked to you about what we needed to do and what we were going to do. Now, I would like to tell you what we have done.
This is my TWIC card. Last week, I went to Wilmington and I enrolled. On October 16 - less than two weeks from today - Wilmington's port workers will begin enrolling for their TWICs. This card represents the completion of TWIC's "flight testing".
Just like I did, Wilmington's port workers will come to our enrollment center and give their personal information and fingerprints to a Trusted Agent for vetting. Their cards - just like mine - will be printed and sent back to Wilmington for activation.
TWIC is one of the world's most advanced, interoperable biometric credentialing programs - powered by state-of-the-art technologies. Once TWIC is up and running, TSA will vet as many workers in one day as we did in one year of prototype. That is over 5,000 workers a day. This program will impact the livelihoods of the hundreds of thousands of American workers who represent the backbone of global commerce.
While the start-of-enrollment represents a significant milestone in the program; more importantly, it is a critical step in our multi-layered approach to securing our nation's ports.
Since Assistant Secretary Hawley testified in April, we have completed testing and have made advances in all aspects of the program.
First - we added 17 new TWIC enrollment sites based on stakeholder input. We understand the importance of making enrollment as convenient and accessible as possible. The additional sites bring the total number of fixed enrollment centers to 147 nationwide. We have also added a mobile enrollment capability to take TWIC to the workers.
Second - we reduced the price of a standard TWIC card to $132.50. It is important to us to limit the cost to workers as much as possible
Third - we published technical specifications for TWIC biometric card readers. This allows industry to enhance the access control technologies used at 3,200 facilities and on 10,000 vessels
And fourth - we held kick-off meetings with five card reader pilot participants. The Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Brownsville, as well as Watermark Cruises in Annapolis, were selected to represent a broad range of operating environments. We are continuing to meet with interested stakeholders to identify additional participants
After successful start-up in Wilmington, we will proceed to Corpus Christi in early November
By mid-November, enrollment will start in Baton Rouge; Beaumont; Honolulu; Oakland; and Tacoma
This group will be followed in late November by Chicago/Calumet; Houston; Port Arthur; Providence; and Savannah
We look forward to the start of enrollment on October 16. For the first time — thousands of ports and vessels will have one, interoperable, security network with workers holding a common credential that can be used across that entire network
We will continue to work with our partners - the Coast Guard, maritime stakeholders, and this Committee - to ensure the ongoing success of the TWIC program. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today and I would be happy to answer any questions.
