Excuse the reference to a classic movie, but it seemed appropriate.
In the wake of 9/11, Congress passed the Maritime Transportation Security Act. One part of this legislation required the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard to develop a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, aka TWIC. According to the TSA, the TWICs are "tamper-resistant biometric credentials for workers who require unescorted access to secure areas of ports, vessels, outer continental shelf facilities and all credentialed merchant mariners." The scale of this federal identification card is quite large with the government anticipating "that more than 750,000 workers including longshoremen, truckers, port employees and others will be required to obtain a TWIC."
The final rule can be downloaded here. The Navigation and Vessel Inspection circular (basically the Coast Guard’s policy advice) about the TWIC program is here . The implementation is being "rolled out" port by port. Honolulu is scheduled for November 2007. The schedule is available here. A great trade law blog, International Trade Law News, provides other details of the TWIC program.
In the Final Rule, credentialed merchant mariners and workers with unescorted acess to secure areas of vessels and facilities to undergo a security threat assessment and a biometric credential, the TWIC. After the compliance date published by each local Captain of the Port has passed, "persons without TWICs will not be granted unescorted access to secure areas at affected maritime facilities."
The interplay between the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard is noted. The U.S. Coast Guard regulates the vessel and facility security and will use the TWIC as "an access control measure."
The program is on the leading edge of technology, in fact the Final Rule does not address the biometric requirements of the TWIC, saving it for a future regulation.
The Final Rule is comprehensive in denoting treatment of the various types of non-U.S. citizens who could hold TWICs. There is a disqualification process by which certain classes of persons, including those convicted of serious crimes, those with immigration issues, and those without mental capacity can be disqualified from holding a TWIC with administrative appeal rights to an Administrative Law Judge.
Some crimes permanently disqualify an applicant for a TWIC: espionage, sedition, treason, terrorism, transportation security incident, unlawful hazardous material shipment, possession of explosives, murder, bomb threats, RICO, and attempts and conspiracies of some of the above.
Some crimes are disqualifying in the interim when the applicant has been convicted of (or found not guilty by reason of insanity after being charged with) the following offenses within seven years of the date of application or if incarcerated and released within five years of the TWIC application: weapons violations, extortion, dishonesty/fraud, bribery, smuggling, immigration violations, controlled substances, arson, kidnapping, rape or aggravated sexual abuse, assault with intent to kill, robbery and conspiracy to commit the above offenses.
Obviously, the disqualification based on criminal histories may be disruptive to current port workers with criminal convictions. An example is reported here.