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it, legislatively mandated deadlines for (1) implementing the TWIC Program at the nation?s ports in three risk-based phases, (2) issuing or denying TWICs to all then current holders of merchant mariner documents, (3) starting a pilot study on card readers in the maritime environment, (4) a report to Congress on the results of the pilot study, and (5) Þ nal regulations for card readers. None of these deadlines was met, with delays ranging from weeks to years, and the last two still not accomplished. ENROLLMENT & CREDENTIALINGTSA and the Coast Guard issued a jointregulation in January 2007 that established the credentialing part of the Program. Through a contractor, TSA began to enroll maritime workers in the Program and issue their cards that Octo- ber. There were initial customer horror stories, such as over 20 people booked for the same 15-minute appointment window with only one screener on duty and 20-minute wait times for telephone assistance from the Help Desk. Times for card issuance after enrollment were in the six to eight week range instead of the advertised 10 to 30 days. These problems appear to have subsided (the current average enrollment time is un- der nine minutes) as the result of allo- cation of additional resources and the initial enrollment peak having crested. With only new entrants to the industry and individuals needing replacements applying for TWICs, enrollment cen- ters have been cut back. Many in the industry are concerned that TSA is not planning for suf Þ cient capacity to handle the volume of TWIC renewals, which starts ramping up by this fall. TSA originally estimated it would have to issue about 750,000 TWICs. When the credential rule was pub- lished in 2007, the estimate was up to 1.2 million. As of mid-January, there have been a little over 2 million enroll- ments and just under 2 million cards have been activated. Without a require- ment to use card reading machines to Coast guardsman examining a TWIC Credential. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty OfÞ cer 2nd Class Renee C. Aiello) www.maritimeprofessional.com | Maritime Professional | 25
