TWIC Cards Causing Longshoremen Hardship W/O Improving Security

Elizabeth Conley · Jun 30, 2012

TSA no-show angers lawmakers as they get few answers about TWIC

Two issues here: The TSA has thumbed it's nose at Congress again, & TWIC, as it functions currently, is wasteful, pointless and is resulting in significant harm to U.S. citizens who in no way deserve the abuse.

It seems the TSA brings its culture of narcissism, incompetence and sociopathy to everything they do.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee invited a senior Transportation Security Administration official to discuss its decade-old port security initiative, the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program, but was stood up.
Stephen Sadler, the TSA assistant administrator for Intelligence and Analysis, didn't come to the hearing to answer questions about TWIC, and the lack of answers frustrated committee members.
Instead, the Homeland Security Department — which TSA falls under — sent Joseph Servido, assistant commandant for preparedness in the Coast Guard, and Kelli Walther, assistant secretary in Homeland Security's office of policy, who both failed to satisfy the committee desire for answers to longstanding problems with TWIC.
"It's appalling that TSA would thumb their nose at the committee," said committee chairman John Mica (R-Fla.), who called for a recess during witness testimony because of his frustration over Homeland Security and TSA's inability to send informed witnesses to the hearing. "That they would send a witness who's so unprepared and then have the nerve to sit there and say, 'Well, TSA has the answer to that,' but they won't show them up."
Walther and Servido couldn't answer questions about the cost of the program, its timetable for completion or the reasons behind the lack of promised capabilities.
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She said background checks required to obtain TWIC cards are misguided and have cost some workers, through no fault of their own, their life savings, McLaughlin said.
"In 2009, when Washington state port workers were required to get a security clearance, ILWU member William Ericson was unable to obtain it; a background check wrongly showed that there was a pending case of forgery against him," McLaughlin said. "Mr. Ericson had worked at the Port of Seattle for 12 years. Mr. Ericson was out of work for 6 months, had exhausted his savings, and came very close to having his house foreclosed upon even though he had done nothing wrong."
Another case saw a longshoreman born on a military base overseas drain his life earnings waiting for military documentation of his birth to satisfy immigration requirements in the law, McLaughlin said.
"The income losses and emotional suffering that TWIC caused these workers and others like them and their families cannot be remedied," she said.
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TWIC Cards Causing Longshoremen Hardship W/O Improving Security

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TWIC Cards Causing Longshoremen Hardship W/O Improving Security

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