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Smart Card Technology News

19 Oct 2001

Smart Card Initiative to Promote Maritime Security

The Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP) Co-chairmen, CAPT Lee Kincaid and CAPT Robert Sheen, announced the SOCP’s plans for developing SOCP’s Maritime Smart Card pilot project at its October meeting in Norfolk, VA. The pilot project, jointly sponsored by the SOCP and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and led by SOCP Working Group Chair, CAPT Charles Pillsbury of MITAGS, will use SOCP and MARAD matching funds. The General Services Administration (GSA), experts in smart card technology development, was commissioned to develop a maritime smart card requirements analysis using information and data gathered from joint planning meetings comprised of a cross-section of the maritime industry and the Coast Guard. GSA will also assist with project implementation.

09 Sep 2004

GAO report – Smart Card Technology

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on implementation of smart card technology by federal agencies. It discusses, among other things, plans by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to issue Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWICs) to an estimated 6 million workers. GAO-04-948 (HK Law).

08 Nov 2007

USCG & TSA to Discuss TWIC Reader Hardware

The US Coast Guard issued a notice stating that it and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will host a meeting in Washington, DC on November 19 to discuss the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) reader hardware and card application specification. Interested members of the smart card technology community, vendors of biometric card readers, and the general public are invited. After an overview of the TWIC reader hardware and card application specification and TWIC pilot test plans, TSA and Coast Guard representatives will be available to answer questions concerning the specification and pilot. [Source: HK Law]

17 May 2006

TSA, USCG Approve Biometric ID for Port Workers

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard have taken another step toward the implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) by approving proposed regulations for a biometric-based identification credential for port workers. The notice of proposed rulemaking will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days and lays out specific details on the program. The public will have forty-five days to comment and four public meetings will be hosted by TSA and Coast Guard to solicit public input. • TSA would collect worker's biographic information including ten fingerprints; name; date of birth; address and phone number; alien registration number, if applicable; photo; employer; and job title.

12 May 2006

TSA Releases Advance Copy of TWIC Proposal

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released an advance copy (277 pages in length) of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) in the maritime sector. Under the proposal, TSA would collect worker’s biographic information (including but not limited to ten fingerprints, name, date of birth, address, telephone number, photo, employer, and job title). All individuals (including US merchant mariners) with unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act would be required to have a TWIC.