Port Workers Enrollment Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Program

Port workers, longshoremen, truckers and others at the Port of Bangor in Maine began enrolling last week in the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program. The program's goal is to ensure that any individual who has unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels has received a thorough background check and is not a security threat.
"The start of enrollment is one more step in our effort to prevent persons who are a threat from gaining access to secure areas of port facilities," said Maurine Fanguy, TWIC program director for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). "We appreciate the support of our partners at the Port of Bangor for helping to make one of the world's most advanced interoperable biometric systems a reality."

The TWIC enrollment center in Bangor is located at 163 Hildreth Street North. Nationwide, more than 1 million workers with unescorted access to secure areas are expected to apply by the end of 2008. Ultimately, TSA will establish fixed enrollment centers at 147 ports and will deploy mobile enrollment centers to dozens of other locations as needed.

"TWIC will be a crucial part of our multi-layered, risk-based approach to maritime security," said Capt. Jim Rendon, commander of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. "The program will strengthen security and access control at ports and on thousands of other maritime facilities and vessels."

Workers at the Port of Bangor are able to pre-enroll for TWIC online at www.tsa.gov/twic. Pre-enrolling speeds up the process by allowing workers to provide biographic information and schedule a time to complete the application process in person. This eliminates waiting at enrollment centers and reduces the time it takes to enroll each individual.