A three-year pilot project to test different types of smart card readers used to verify the authenticity of transportation worker credentials at a seven seaports around the country found that the reader technology can work in ports and adds another layer of security in reducing the risk that an unauthorized person could access a secure area, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says in a new report.
The report also says that the use of the devices to read Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC) does not “significantly” increase throughput times for workers passing through access control points on ports.
Next up for DHS is to issue a final rule that will help guide ports around the country with their respective implementations of TWIC readers without prescribing a “one-size-fits-all” approach given the differences between port facilities.
The results of the report are a “good step forward to opening the market,” Steve Williams, CEO of Intellicheck Mobilisa [IDN], tells TR2. However, he points out that the process in carrying out the pilot projects and getting to the final rule has dragged on longer than expected, which has led to some companies getting out of the reader market.
Intellicheck Mobilisa makes a family of handheld smart card readers, which include biometric capabilities that have been used in several of the TWIC pilots. The company also sells the devices to military bases for access control and base security.
DHS began issuing TWIC cards to various port workers, including truckers that visit ports, in the fall of 2007. With the exception of the locations of the card reader pilots, which began in 2008, access control at most ports for TWIC card holders is being done with manual authentication and checks.
Through the pilot project, which was mandated by Congress, DHS tested fixed and portable readers as well as readers that required a worker to swipe a credential, called a contact reader, and to place card nearby or against the reader, called contactless. In some locations workers’ fingerprints, which are also electronically embedded in their TWIC cards as part of the enrollment and issuance process, were used with the readers to automatically verify that a particular card belonged to the cardholder.
Among the findings of the report are that some readers worked better than others, that fixed readers incorporating both contactless and contact capabilities were more efficient, that fixed contactless readers protected from weather elements did better in harsh conditions than exposed fixed contact readers, which suffered from wet conditions, facilities that could use existing infrastructure saved costs, and that networks dedicated to just TWIC and physical access control systems showed faster transaction times and higher validation rates than shared networks.
Other findings include:
–fixed units that combined both contactless and contact readers had higher validation rates of cards than just contactless devices
–implementation costs were lower at facilities that could use existing infrastructure, that hard wired networks worked better than wireless systems, and that networks dedicated to TWIC and physical access control systems (PACS) showed faster transaction times and higher validation rates than shared networks;
–some readers performed better than others and that enclosed fixed contactless readers did better in harsh weather than exposed contact readers, which suffered performance degradation in wet conditions. The reports says most environmental challenges can be overcome with proper planning;
–readers approved for operation with a particular PACS had fewer integration and operational technical issues than readers not approved to operate with a PACS;
–portable readers are useful for ports with small TWIC holder populations and where there is minimal traffic at access points;
–the use of the smart cards with the readers isn’t intuitive, thereby requiring workers receive training on using them correctly;
–facilities that issue their own site-specific badges might save money by using just TWIC cards.
Another challenge is that integrators, typically a contractor hired by a local port to install the readers and perform any additional work to integrate the readers with the local infrastructure, frequently didn’t understand the integration challenges up front, John Martin, president and CEO of JTAC Consulting, who has been involved with the implementation of TWIC since 2003, tells TR2.
Martin says though the findings of TSA’s report are not a surprise to him.
“The bottom line is the TWIC program does work, it has value, if nothing else because all of the people that work in these environments have to have TWICs and that means they have to have a background check and they have some people that shouldn’t be working in secure areas,” Martin says.
However, Martin cautions, facilities that will have to implement TWIC reader requirements will have two key challenges. One is meeting the regulatory requirements and the second is doing so without “severely” impacting their operations. And that means they need to begin developing a strategy that effectively deals with these challenges, he says.
There already exists pent up funding appropriated by Congress in previous fiscal years for grants that can be used to help implement the TWIC readers at ports but some of these funds expire this summer and fall, which means ports need to get moving on creating an implementation strategy that includes design, planning and operations or else they will be “throwing good money after bad,” Martin says.
It’s unclear when the final rule for the TWIC readers will be published although some industry officials believe it could be late this year or early 2013.
Rep. Benny Thompson (D-Miss), the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, who released the TWIC report, calls it “an important first step” while noting that “there’s still a long road ahead to full implementation.” He wants DHS to move quickly with the card reader rulemaking, particularly given that the first port workers to receive TWIC credentials will be paying for new cards later this year and because a key funding source for the reader pilots, port security grants, is being cut each year.