Prepared Statement of Administrator Kip Hawley
Assistant Secretary of the Transportation Security Administration
Before the U.S. Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
April 12, 2007
Good morning Mr. Chairman, thank you Members of the Committee and Ranking Members.
Thank you for this opportunity to bring you up to date on the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program.
I am pleased to be here with TSA's partner in the maritime aspect of TWIC, the Coast Guard -- this morning represented by Admiral Brian Salerno.
Also, I am pleased to join Norm Rabkin of the Government Accountability Office.
Today I will provide greater detail on TWIC, its technology, business process and timetable.
But to start off, I'd like to answer one fundamental question: Why is this taking so long?
In a city where most of us wear one or more high security ID cards, what is so hard about producing a TWIC?
There are four major differences from this kind of card.
- First, TWIC uses the latest, most advanced federal government biometric standard and for the first time applies it in the commercial sector.
- Second, TWIC issues cards that work anywhere in the nation's private port environment by anyone working there, across companies and industries.
- Third, TWIC has not only unparalleled flexibility, it has massive scale: somewhere in the realm of 1 million card holders in 3200 ports. In comparison with our prototype project, we will process in one day more credentials than we did in one year during the prototype.
- Finally TWIC's security checks will be integrated into all of TSA's vetting programs which means that we can connect the dots through out the entire transportation sector.
TWIC is an advanced, sophisticated credentialing system.
In other words, the hard part is not the card, it is the network behind the card.
Breaking new ground in technology has obvious advantages but it always brings schedule risk, and TWIC is no different.
Three developments in the last year have made this project even more complex.
- First, we made the decision to bring TWIC into alignment with the new federal government biometric standards called FIPS 201.
- Second, we identified, and closed, potential data privacy gaps as of this past February.
- And third, working with the Coast Guard, we incorporated more than 1900 comments received during our rule-making process into the detailed blueprint for TWIC.
That Rule became final several weeks ago.
On top of the challenge of introducing new technology… on a massive scale… while at the same time making the three major program adjustments … we have one more additional complexity. And it's a big one.
We will connect TWIC into what we call the Screening Gateway. As you know, TSA vets many different people in different industries example Truck Drivers. In order to connect the dots and not miss potential links, we now use a centralized vetting system. In turning TWIC on, we must be absolutely certain that we do not jeopardize the stability or security of this larger vetting system.
The only way to be sure is to 'flight test' TWIC.
All the internal moving parts must work together, and they must work in combination with a larger Screening Gateway.
Rigorous performance testing is the only way to know for sure that TWIC is ready to go live.
That is where we are in the process and what remains is the testing. Everyone wants to know the date when TWIC enrollments will start.
We are all mindful of the SAFE Port Act deadline of July 1 to enroll ten ports in TWIC.
So where are we on that?
As Senator Lautenberg mentioned TSA has already conducted watch-list and immigration checks for over 750,000 port workers and we'll do it again over the summer to keep that assessment fresh.
I believe that addresses the near-term security concerns about the current workforce even before the cards are issued.
For us, the stakes are enormously high. For the people who pay for these cards and use them daily to enter workplaces and jobs, they are also high. Out of respect for these employees and businesses, we must spend the time to ensure that the program is tested, fully integrated, and does not compromise security in any linked system.
We respect the deadline and April is too soon to give up on a July deadline but if it is a choice between meeting the deadline and program integrity, we will choose the latter.
We have a strong new team on board from Lockheed Martin with excellent program support from TSA and the Coast Guard.
The industry and its workers have been forthcoming and constructive. For commerce, TWIC means that thousands of independent businesses will have one, interoperable, security network for the first time in history.
We look forward to working with this Committee to insure the success of the TWIC program and port security generally.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today and I would be happy to answer any questions.
