Port of Rochester Workers Begin Enrollment for Federal Security Credential
May 21, 2008
Lara Uselding
TSA 917-623-0337
U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs
Commander Joseph Boudrow
716-843-9572
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Port and longshore workers, truckers and other maritime employees at the Port of Rochester began enrolling today in the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program.
The program's goal is to ensure that any individual who has unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels has received a thorough background check and is not a security threat. Nationwide, more than 1.2 million workers with unescorted access to secure areas will apply to the program.
"The start of enrollment is one more step in our effort to prevent persons who are a threat from gaining access to secure areas of port facilities," said Maurine Fanguy, TWIC program director for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). "We appreciate the support of our partners in Rochester for helping to make one of the world's most advanced interoperable biometric systems a reality."
The agency encourages workers in Rochester to pre-enroll for TWIC online at www.tsa.gov/twic or the Coast Guard's Homeport site, http://homeport.uscg.mil. Pre-enrolling speeds up the process by allowing workers to provide biographic information and schedule a time to complete the application process in person. This eliminates waiting at enrollment centers and reduces the time it takes to enroll each individual.
"TWIC is a crucial part of our multi-layered, risk-based approach to maritime security," said Captain Scott Ferguson of Coast Guard Sector Buffalo. "The program will strengthen security and access control at ports and on hundreds of other maritime facilities and vessels."
The TWIC enrollment center in Rochester is located at 803 West Ave., Suite 310, Rochester, N.Y. 14611-2437. Ultimately, TSA will establish fixed enrollment centers at 147 ports and will deploy mobile enrollment centers to dozens of other locations as needed.
For more information regarding TSA, please visit our Web site at www.tsa.gov.
