TSA Plans Facility Access Survey

In a related development, the Transportation Security Administration issued request for comments this week on a new effort aimed at gathering facility access information on pipelines, as well as other transportation modes. Comments are due by June 4, 2004. TSA is in the process of testing the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Program concept, which, if approved, will provide for a single, uniform credential nationwide for transportation workers who require access to secure transportation areas. In the Technology Evaluation phase of the TWIC Program, TSA evaluated five card technologies in many types of physical and logical access transactions, and in the Prototype phase, it intends to evaluate a broad range of business processes as they relate to credentialing, identity, and identity management. The information collected for the TWIC National Survey differs from these pilot programs in that it will be used as a means to develop a predictive model of the current access control technology infrastructure at transportation sites across the nation, should the TWIC be approved for implementation. The bulk of the information to be collected in the National Survey pertains to the facility (i.e., number of access points, badged population, etc.), not to individuals. This information will be used to help determine implementation approaches for the TWIC Program at transportation facilities and modes across the country that differ by type and size (e.g., aviation, rail, maritime, and pipeline). The complete proposal is available on RCP’s website here