The SIU submitted written testimony for today’s hearing conducted by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation covering implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program.While fully supporting the goal of strong security in U.S. ports and aboard ship, the union continued to express great concern about how the TWIC program will affect U.S. mariners. The SIU pointed out that, for American seafarers, a relatively minor adjustment to the existing system for issuing merchant mariner documents (MMDs, also called z-cards) would meet the legislative mandate that spurred the TWIC program.
“As we have repeatedly advocated, the SIU strongly recommends that the current merchant mariner document be altered or modified to include an encoded biometric, to be used as a biometric transportation security card in lieu of the TWIC, especially since the Coast Guard recognizes the MMD as an identity document,” the union noted in its written comments. “We question the need for yet another document that the merchant mariner must obtain and carry when the current and time-tested merchant mariner document may be adapted to encapsulate an encoded biometric. The SIU believes that with a security vetting process (threat assessment), preferably initiated by the Coast Guard, the biometric MMD would adequately respond to the mandate of the Maritime Transportation Security Act for a biometric transportation security card, given the fact that the Coast Guard advises that a security assessment is not required for the mariner population who have an MMD issued after February 3, 2003, implying that those mariners have undergone a full security vetting by the Coast Guard and therefore need not undergo a TWIC security assessment. The SIU urges the committee to consider this simplified approach for merchant mariners who are required to hold merchant mariner documents instead of acceding to the TSA implementation process as enunciated in its final rule.”
Again where seafarers are concerned, the TWIC program as spelled out in the first part of its final rule “will not enhance security but will certainly disrupt commerce and place an intolerable burden on American merchant mariners,” the union added.
For more information on the hearing, visit the committee’s web site HERE.
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