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Oral Testimony on TWIC by Maurine Fanguy

TWIC Program Director

Before the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism

April 26, 2007

Good afternoon Madame Chairwoman, Ranking Member Souder, and Members of the Sub-Committee.

Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the TSA’s implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program – also known as TWIC – as required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act and the SAFE Port Act. I am pleased to be here with TSA’s partner in the maritime aspect of TWIC, the United States Coast Guard -- represented by Admiral Bone, as well as Assistant Commissioner Ahern from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Today I would like to discuss the overall TWIC program, including the technology and business processes required to make TWIC successful.

To start off, I’d like to answer one of the most frequently asked questions about TWIC. In a city where most of us wear multiple security badges such as these, what is different about TWIC? Why is it so difficult to produce an ID card when so many of us carry one every day?

In short there are four major differences:

• First, TWIC uses smartcard and biometric technologies based on the latest, most advanced federal government standards and for the first time applies them in the commercial sector.
• Second, TWIC issues cards that can be used at any port or vessel across the nation.
• Third, TWIC has massive scale – over 1 million card holders will use the same credential across 3200 facilities and 10,000 vessels. 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 issuance is based on very comprehensive security checks that involve sharing data across multiple agencies and Departments. These checks are integrated into all of TSA’s vetting programs which means that we can connect the dots throughout the entire transportation sector.

In addition to the complexities of rolling out a sophisticated credentialing program nationwide, TSA had to establish a regulatory framework for the program. The TWIC final rule was issued on January 1, 2007 and addressed over 1900 comments from the public. The final rule includes important changes from the prototype, such as the ability to provide a discount for FAST card holders, documented merchant mariners, and truckers with Hazardous Material Endorsements. The TWIC blueprint was updated to align the system with the final rule.

TWIC is a sophisticated system powered by leading-edge technologies. In other words, the hard part is not the actual card, it is the network behind the card.

The TWIC network includes technology components that cover five areas:

• The Pre-Enrollment web site allows workers to schedule appointments and provide biographic information ahead of time to make enrollment easier.
• The Enrollment workstation captures a worker’s biometric and biographic information and submits the information for security processing.
• The TWIC back-end system routes applicant information for processing, conducts data integrity checks, and manages the status of TWIC cards.
• The Screening Gateway is a TSA enterprise asset that aggregates security threat assessment data, working with the FBI, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center. It is important to note that the Screening Gateway is used across all of TSA’s vetting programs.
• Finally, the Card Production component electronically loads an applicant’s information onto a TWIC smart card and then physically produces the card.

All of these components rely on state-of-the-art technology.

Technology programs always require comprehensive testing and TWIC is no different. That is why we are focused on a rigorous program to ‘flight test’ TWIC before we go out to the ports. All the internal moving parts must work together, and they must work in combination to conduct accurate and timely security threat assessments. Rigorous performance testing is the only way to know for sure that TWIC is ready to go live.

We recognize that TWIC will affect both businesses and port workers. For that reason, we need to ensure that the program does not negatively impact commerce or people’s livelihoods. We want to get this program right, the first time.

For the first time in history, thousands of independent businesses will have one, interoperable, security network and workers will hold a single common credential that can be used across that entire network.

We look forward to working with this subcommittee 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.