HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE CONSIDERS NATIONAL PORT SECURITY WORKER ID SYSTEM

HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE CONSIDERS NATIONAL PORT SECURITY WORKER ID SYSTEM    A House subcommittee chairman said he may introduce a bill that would implement a nationwide security system requiring port workers to hold secure identity cards.
   Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., told House members and witnesses at a Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee hearing that activating a system is necessary to protect U.S. ports from acts of terrorism. He said he would consider introducing such a bill within two weeks.
   “A critical facet of protecting our ports and port facilities is ensuring the identity of all people working in these areas, and knowing who belongs at our ports and more importantly, who does not belong there,” LoBiondo said.
   A witness before the committee said such a program, if it were to receive congressional support, would probably have to receive funding from the Transportation Security Administration. Adm. James Underwood, director of the Office of Intelligence and Security at the Office of the Transportation Secretary, said he was not certain how much such a program would cost, but that a cost estimate, and a more specific architecture for such a program may be available within 60 days.
   Underwood said a newly formed action group was researching a way in which the identification system could used over different transportation modes; and built on existing technology; ensure compliance with privacy guidelines; and be scaleable to address future access enabling technologies.
   Underwood stressed that, whatever system used should provide physical control of whom gets access and to where in a port. “For all areas within a facility, access by unauthorized persons must be controlled,” he said.
   Underwood said a background search for port workers under such a program would go back into an individual’s history, and require that they had not received a criminal conviction in the last seven years, or had been to prison in the last five years. “They would be affected by this program,” he said.
   Underwood suggested that, if the program were to be implemented, the ruling authority could be the U.S. Coast Guard, or the TSA, because of its broad scope and authorities.