"Maritime security identification rules hit choppy waters; Ferry operators, truckers angry at fees, process" by Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times | March 29, 2009
OXFORD, Md. - .... Under a little-known domestic security program, the Bixlers and about 1.2 million other US citizens and qualified visa holders must pay as much as $132.50 each to obtain a high-tech government ID card that certifies they are not maritime terrorists.
See? The LIES COST, folks!!!!!!!!!!
To obtain the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC, each applicant undergoes a security threat assessment. Fingerprints and other details are checked against lists of known or suspected terrorists, major criminals, and immigration violators. The card is valid for five years....
All over a DAMNABLE, INSIDE JOB LIE!!!!!
Critics, however, call it a waste of resources and a bureaucratic morass. The requirement has drawn the most criticism for netting bait salespeople, charter fishing boat skippers, and others who do not enter military bases, carry nuclear materials, or otherwise pose an obvious threat to national security.
Not meant for that. See: Drug War a Cover For North American Union
Congress mandated the program to tighten security around the nation's ports. An 18-month registration drive is heading toward its final deadlines and largest ports: The new IDs are now required in New York Harbor, and on April 14 in Houston, Los Angeles, and Long Beach, Calif.
Longshoremen, mariners, ships' crews, truck drivers, vendors, and other dockworkers must carry the card - or have an approved escort - to legally enter 3,200 US maritime facilities from Guam to Miami and to work on any of about 10,000 licensed vessels....
Homeland Security Department officials say the TWIC is the world's most comprehensive biometric smart card program. Each card carries a chip with an encrypted scan of the holder's 10 fingerprints to confirm his or her identity.
But although the cards are mandatory, devices to check a person's fingerprints against the data on the card are not required.
Pfffft!!
See: State Department Knows Terrorism is a Fraud
A pilot project and testing of prototype technology are expected to last all year....
Then we will never get rid of it because pilot programs never go away -- they just get expanded!
Instead, Coast Guard officers are running spot checks of ID cards at terminals and wharves. They are already investigating several cases of alleged bribery and fraud - including one in which a dockworker is suspected of pasting a copy of a friend's TWIC onto his grocery club card.
Riverfront refineries in Louisiana reported last month that they turned away hundreds of contract workers who did not have the new cards, but disruptions elsewhere have been relatively minor during the rollout, officials said. "We're seeing most ports are now posting 'No TWIC, No Entry' signs," said Lisa Novak, a Coast Guard spokeswoman. "So word is getting out."
No Irish need apply, 'eh?
Indeed, word has reached some who aren't usually considered dockworkers.
"Pepsi drivers are getting TWICs if they deliver to the port," said Mark Bobal, a Coast Guard specialist on passenger vessel safety for the Great Lakes region. In Duluth, Minn., "taxi drivers got the card to pick up crews off the ships."
Yeah, the more you read, the more you realize THIS AIN'T ABOUT "TERROR!"
This about a GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM!!!!
"I don't anticipate any significant problems come compliance time" on April 14, said Nico Melendez, a TSA spokesman in Los Angeles. Some truck drivers, dockworkers, and others, however, have complaints. They say that the application fee is too high, that computer crashes and other problems have caused frequent delays at enrollment offices, and that the card duplicates other required permits and licenses.
"It's outrageous," said Joe Rajkovacz, regulatory affairs specialist at the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents 160,000 truck drivers. "The whole thing is a joke."
I'm not laughing!!! And if it is outrageous, guy, GO ON STRIKE and SHUT DOWN this ECONOMY!! Maybe THEN we will FINALLY get the TRUTH!!!!!!!!
Rajkovacz said truck drivers around Kansas City, Mo., where his group is based, had to apply for their ID cards in a downtown office tower. "You couldn't park a truck anywhere nearby," he said.
Longshoremen in San Francisco have voiced similar frustrations. "To put the enrollment office for dockworkers in the middle of the financial district was insane," said Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 20,000 workers on the West Coast. "That alone shows it wasn't very customer-friendly."
Not meant to be; TYRANNY never is "customer-friendly!"
Merrilees said Homeland Security should focus instead on inspecting cargo containers from overseas. "It's pretty hard for someone on the docks to do much," he said. "But we have unknown materials coming in on ships every day."
And one day an Iranian nuke bomb will sail into a U.S. port, right?
Ever get the feeling the agenda-pushing press is preparing you for something?
--more--"
Related: Massachusetts: State of Tyranny
