Workers at Port of Decatur Begin Enrollment for Federal Port Security Credential
July 17, 2008
TSA Public Affairs:
(305) 432-0076
DECATUR, Al. – Port and longshore workers, truckers and others at the Port of Decatur are now able to enroll 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.
"The start of enrollment here 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 at the Port of Decatur for helping to make one of the world's most advanced interoperable biometric systems a reality."
More than 140 ports have begun enrollment in the nationwide program. Ultimately, the program will be rolled out to 147 enrollment centers and will vet more than 1.2 million maritime transportation system workers through April 2009.
The TWIC enrollment center is located at the Tennessee Valley Training Center, 115 Woodall Rd., Decatur, AL, 35601. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
Workers are able 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.
For more information about TSA, please visit our Web site at www.tsa.gov.
