TSA Suffers More TWIC Card Challenges

Because Transportation Security Administration officials didn't provide port authorities with test results on biometric card readers, the authorities bought the costly equipment without knowing whether it worked, according to the Government Accountability Office.

TSA currently is gauging the ability of various biometric card readers to scan so-called Transportation Worker Identification Credentials for controlling access to secure areas aboard vessels and at maritime facilities. Port authorities, truckers, longshoremen and other personnel were required to carry TWICs for ID purposes after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Due to poor planning, TSA didn't have time to rigorously test the access control technology before rolling it out at pilot ports in 2008 and 2009, according to federal auditors. TSA has since obtained the findings of the durability testing, but has not shared that information with port employees, GAO officials told lawmakers in an Oct. 22 letter released on Monday.

"According to representatives of four of the seven pilot participants we met with, not sharing the results of reader testing has limited their ability to acquire the equipment that meets the environmental and durability needs of their port facilities and vessels and has resulted in their expending important port security funds without any assurance that their investment will be fruitful," wrote Stephen L. Caldwell, GAO director of homeland security and justice issues.

The Homeland Security Department had made $23.6 million available for pilot participants through grants, according to a 2009 GAO report. Between 2002 and 2009, the government spent $111.5 million on the TWIC program.