Transportation Worker Identification Credential: Card Reader Pilot Results Are Unreliable; Security Benefits Should Be Reassessed Page: 4 of 13
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required that, among other things, GAO conduct an assessment of the
report's findings and recommendations.11
We have been reporting on TWIC progress and challenges since
September 2003.12 Among other issues, we highlighted steps that TSA
and USCG were taking to meet an expected surge in initial enrollment as
well as various challenges experienced in the TWIC testing conducted by
a contractor for TSA and USCG from August 2004 through June 2005.
We also identified challenges related to ensuring that the TWIC
technology works effectively in the harsh maritime environment.13 In
November 2009, we reported on the design and approach of a pilot
initiated in August 2008 to test TWIC readers, and found that DHS did not
have a sound evaluation methodology to ensure information collected
through the TWIC reader pilot would be complete and accurate.14
Moreover, in May 2011, we reported that internal control weaknesses
governing the enrollment, background checking, and use of TWIC
potentially limit the program's ability to provide reasonable assurance that
access to secure areas of MTSA-regulated facilities is restricted to
qualified individuals.15
My statement today highlights the key findings of our May 8, 2013, report
on the TWIC program, which addressed the extent to which the results
from the TWIC reader pilot were sufficiently complete, accurate, and
reliable for informing Congress and the TWIC card reader rule.16 For the
11Pub. L. No. 111-281, 802, 124 Stat. 2905, 2989.
12GAO, Maritime Security: Progress Made in Implementing Maritime Transportation
Security Act, but Concems Remain, GAO-03-1155T (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 9, 2003).
13GAO, Transportation Security: DHS Should Address Key Challenges before
Implementing the Transportation Worker Identification Credential Program, GAO-06-982
(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 29, 2006). TWIC readers and related technologies operated
outdoors in the harsh maritime environment can be affected by dirt, salt, wind, and rain.
14GAO, Transportation Worker Identification Credential: Progress Made in Enrolling
Workers and Activating Credentials but Evaluation Plan Needed to Help Inform the
Implementation of Card Readers, GAO-10-43 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 18, 2009).
15GAO, Transportation Worker Identification Credential: Internal Control Weaknesses
Need to Be Corrected to Help Achieve Security Objectives, GAO-11-657 (Washington,
D.C.: May 10, 2011).
16GAO, Transportation Worker Identification Credential: Card Reader Pilot Results Are
Unreliable; Security Benefits Need to Be Reassessed, GAO-13-198 (Washington, D.C.:
May 8, 2013).GAO-13-695T
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Transportation Worker Identification Credential: Card Reader Pilot Results Are Unreliable; Security Benefits Should Be Reassessed, text, June 18, 2013; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc301190/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.