Tacoma port workers subjected to background security checks

PORT of Tacoma workers, longshoremen and truckers are starting to sign on with the US Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programme. Tacoma is one of the first five American ports to start this.

The TWIC programme calls for all individuals, who have unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels, to undergo background checks to determine whether they threaten national security.

"The start of enrolment 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 programme director for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). "We appreciate the support of our partners at the Port of Tacoma for helping to make one of the world's most advanced interoperable biometric systems a reality."

Thousands of workers are expected to enroll over the coming months at the Port of Tacoma and Port of Seattle, which is scheduled to launch the initiative in mid-December.

Nationwide, more than one million workers with unescorted access to secure port areas are expected to apply for the federal port security credential during the remainder of 2007 and 2008, said the release issued by port authorities, and sent on behalf of the TSA.

To enroll such a large number of port workers within the proposed time frame will require that fixed enrolment be set up at 147 US ports along with mobile units at other locations.

"TWIC will be a crucial part of our multi-layered risk-based approach to maritime security," said US Coast Guard Commander Mark McCadden, chief of prevention in Seattle. "It will strengthen security and access control to the port and on thousands of other maritime facilities and vessels."