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11/22/2006 TWIC is Coming
The Department of Homeland Security, DHS, recently announced the long-awaited details of how it will implement the first phase of the new Transportation Workers Identification Credential, TWIC, program. The announcement came in the May 22nd edition of the Federal Register and outlined the department’s plans to begin issuing the new credential to workers who have unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels. DHS estimates that 110,000 truckers (and 600,000 to 700,000 other workers) with port access will have to obtain the new identification card over the next 18 months.
The TWIC program will eventually extend to truckers and transportation workers who access secure areas at airports, rail yards, and transit facilities. Entry to secure areas at these facilities will require a valid TWIC card. By 2010, plans call for some 12 to15 million workers to be enrolled in the TWIC program.
Drivers and other transportation workers requiring a TWIC card will have to undergo a criminal history background check and a security threat assessment, similar to that now conducted for drivers seeking or renewing a hazardous materials endorsement. They will also have to provide biometric data in the form of fingerprints, which will be encoded and stored on the TWIC card. Each TWIC card will be linked to the individual to whom it is issued, and will only be useable by that individual.
DHS anticipates workers would pay approximately $139 to receive a TWIC card. Workers with current, comparable background checks would pay approximately $105 for the credential. A TWIC card would be valid for five years.
History of the TWIC program
In 2002 the Transportation Security Agency, TSA, (a part of DHS) established the TWIC program after TSA conducted studies which found vulnerabilities and shortcomings throughout the U.S. transportation system. In particular TSA found that in many sectors of the transport industry it was not possible to positively identify individuals entering secure areas or assess the threat those individuals might pose, because of a lack of sufficient background information. Where credentials were issued, it was found that those credentials themselves were often vulnerable to fraud or forgery.
Beginning in 2003 the TSA began a comprehensive evaluation of the various technologies that could be used to create a secure TWIC card. TSA evaluated cards that contained embedded integrated circuits, optical memory stripes, 2D and linear bar codes, and magnetic stripes. The goal was to find the most secure and tamperproof technology that could be used to store biometric information that directly links an individual with a specific TWIC card. It was also necessary to determine exactly which type of biometric information provided the most reliable identification of an individual and the best method of encoding that information onto the TWIC card.
How the TWIC system will function
The TWIC card that each authorized driver and transportation worker will carry will contain a digitized photograph of the individual, the individual’s name, TWIC unique credential number and expiration date. The card will also contain a magnetic stripe and either one or two embedded microchips. The chips will contain the digitized photograph of the individual as well as finger pattern and minutia templates of 2 fingers. Additional information encoded onto the TWIC card will include the individuals’ personal identification number – (a self-chosen PIN number similar to that used for a bank card), as well as a Federal Agency Smart Credential, FASC, number. All of the information stored in the chips and magnetic stripe will be encrypted so as to render it useless in an unauthorized reader.
In operation it is the facility owner/operator that grants permission for a TWIC credentialled driver or worker to access secure areas of the facility. Mere possession of a TWIC does not in and of itself guarantee access to these areas.
The individual needing access will report to the security manager of the facility, where he or she will insert the TWIC into a card reader and will place a finger on a scanner located next to the card reader. The encrypted fingerprint data on the card is compared to the electronic scan of the finger to insure that they match. The data generated by the comparison is sent to the TSAs computer system where it is matched against the existing TWIC database for authentication. The TSA system verifies the validity of the TWIC credential and sends that information back to the facility. Upon receipt of the TSA verification, the facility security manager encodes the TWIC to allow entry to the secure area.
After validation, whenever the driver or worker needs access to the secure area, their TWIC card and finger will be scanned at the entry portal, matched, and they will then be granted access assuming the facility owner/operator has not revoked it for that card or individual.
TWIC is scheduled to become fully operational across all modes of the transportation industry by 2010 at a projected cost of about $1.2 billion. | 
