Time to DOGE the TWIC

Professional Mariner Forum
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Just renewed my TWIC again. No screening, no new photo (I’m not getting any younger) no interaction with anything other than my keyboard and mouse. Just go to the website, pay the money, and congratulations your new TWIC is in the mail.

So…what’s the problem you might ask? Do I think the process needs be more difficult or complicated? NO. I think the TWIC CARD NEEDS TO GO AWAY. What a useless waste of my (and all taxpayers) money. It is nothing more than a tax on mariners, and unnecessary hurdle preventing people from joining or staying in the industry.

I won’t beat a dead horse as I know most of the mariners on here agree with the utter stupidity and uselessness of the TWIC program for mariners. Renewing my TWIC got me thinking: is this our chance to finally kill the TWIC for good? Trump and Elon supposedly are all about going after government waste and abuse, is the TWIC program not a poster child of wasteful government bureaucracy? Have any of you red hats contacted DOGE to tip them off to this wasteful government program that is ripe for elimination? What are you waiting for? Its time to sick DOGE on TWIC! Make sure to let Elon know that we will be expecting refunds for any TWIC fees paid during the Biden administration too.

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Lockheed Martin used to be the contractor handling the TWIC for DOT and thus far military contractors are hands off for DOGE. You could call your congress critter and ask them. The contract came with a requirement to have TWIC card readers at every port but I never ran into one.
The only thing good for the TWIC is it makes it easier to get TSA Precheck. Yes I know TWIC is supposed to be as good as Precheck but TSA didn’t get the memo. Maybe that will change now that they are planning to privatize TSA, go back to contract security like before 9/11, it was working t well then so why not?

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In the last two years I have been running into more and more readers. All the VA ports, JAX, I think FLL? Anyways, it’s serving its purpose by allowing truck drivers and Mariners into the ports while keeping out anyone else who doesn’t have one.

It IS Precheck. You just gotta plug your number in when you check in.

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I hate that dang TWIC card but regretfully I hope DOGE keeps its hands off of it. I say this because historical hatred for the TWIC was the 1 thing that US mariners agreed on. We are united on this 1 thing! But if DOGE puts it on the chopping block a select group of mariners will break away & claim ending the TWIC will be the end of our democracy (again) & any mariner who turns them over are Nazis sympathizers. I just can’t stomach the idea any of mariner claiming TWIC serves any purpose or saves mariners or ports from any type of dangers what so ever. Fighting Nazism by vandalizing random environmentalists cars in parking lots makes more sense than defending the existence of TWIC imo. Please don’t make the TDS sufferers defend the TWIC program.

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Good to know that has progressed and TWIC is now accepted at airports. I have had Precheck almost since it began and they did not accept the TWIC at that time. I just wish there was some international standard as Precheck and Global Entry are only good in the USA. Actually in my opinion Precheck doesn’t save that much time but at least you don’t have to take your shoes off and your laptop out. The shoes off is the silliest thing they do all because someone tried to blow up their shoe over 20 years ago.Eights years later someone tried to blow up their underwear so if the thinking was the same we should be forced to remove our underwear. I guess they’ll risk exploding drawers but not exploding shoes

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The TWIC Card number has one less digit than the TSA Precheck number. Its is difficult if impossible use when booking flights with sometimes with some airlines.
Sometimes adding a 0 is a good work around, but sometimes that does not work.

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I haven’t tried that since I’ve had Global Entry for quite a while, but I believe they can add that TWIC number at the counter and make it work. IIRC, some coworkers did that on a recent trip.

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I use my TWIC number as the TSA known traveler number to fly every hitch. Works just fine.

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I’m pretty sure the TWIC card is like that little piece of paper you’ve got jammed in the overhead—it doesn’t seem important, but if you take it out, you won’t be able to fall asleep for a long time until you stop the squeaking again.

Where would the photo for your MMC come from? Make everyone go to a REC and take a picture? TWIC/TSA enrollment centers are decently spread out across the country—RECs are not.

Also, now the NMC would have to conduct background checks. They’re already pretty mediocre when it comes to medical. I’m not sure how much of a logistical struggle that would be. I also don’t know if the TSA has more jurisdiction for that type of background check than the NMC, or what. But it would be expensive to rework just because you’re mad about paying $80 every five years or whatever it is.

Also, what type of ID do you recommend for everyone else accessing port facilities? MMCs don’t have the tech that TWICs have—especially now that they’re effectively just a piece of paper. So either mariners are going to get shafted at port facilities, or everyone and their mother becomes a mariner, or we start maintaining two systems.

All in all, I think it sucks, but it’s part of a bigger system you might not fully think about.

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The TWIC program is now run by a company called IDEMIA which is a French multi-national security and tech firm. A little googling and it looks like IDEMIA is owned by a Boston, MA based private equity firm called Advent International Corporation. :thinking:

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The 8 digit number on the back of the TWIC works fine for most airlines. Most of the time.

I frequently fly on a regional airline where the TWIC number does not work, unless you happen to get a smart, helpful, and persistent agent at the airline counter.

I prefer to do everything online and not stand in line at the ticket counter.

For quite while the 8 digit TWIC number did not work on Delta, but I’ve been flying on Delta quite a bit in the past year or so, and it has worked fine.

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With all due respect @Meme.Lord I slept just fine before the TWIC program, and I will sleep even better when it is gone.

All licensed mariners had to undergo a background check before the TWIC card was born out of the post-911 security fever dream. Each time I upgraded my license I would sign my name acknowledging that I was subject to a background check, and that they would not issue my license if they discovered that I had lied about any criminal past. This was also before the NMC was a thing, and the USCG did not conduct the background checks. I was told by the REC that they were done by the FBI.

When the TWIC program was rolled out every licensed mariner had already undergone a background check in order to have their license issued. For mariners, the TWIC program is redundant at best, and a pointless, wasteful multi-billion-dollar gravy train for military contractors at worst. For truckers, fine- but professional mariners (most of whom have also been vetted by the State Dept. for Passports) it is a complete waste of time and money.

Where would the photo for your MMC come from? Make everyone go to a REC and take a picture?

Are you really arguing we need to keep the TWIC program around so we have a place to go for our MMC photos? You can get a passport photo at almost any drugstore in the country, post offices, or take your own and order a print online.

now the NMC would have to conduct background checks

If the TWIC program was scrapped, the NMC would not start conducting background checks. They could be done by the FBI like they were before TWIC, or they could continue to be done by the TSA.

Also, what type of ID do you recommend for everyone else accessing port facilities?

Perhaps an argument could be made to keep the TWIC for truckers, but that’s not my concern as this is a Professional Mariner Forum and only I’m talking about sailors. Whatever “tech” my TWIC supposedly has is useless because I’ve NEVER ONCE had to scan it, swipe it, tap it or do anything other than be told to put it back in my wallet because “we can’t accept that as ID”

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You totally missed the reference.

But not all

Again, misunderstood the argument.

I’ve had to scan a lot in the last two ish years. If you haven’t visited a US port that has the systems yet, they definitely will soon. One of them even asked which fingers I used for my prints and I had to dig out the little slip.

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I’ve always asked the ticket agents to do it. Easy, no mistakes.

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The TWIC pays for itself.

On top of coming with TSA Pre-Check, I no longer have to waste a day of my off time to drive two states over and back to get fingerprinted at an REC when renewing.

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What? I’ve never been fingerprinted to renew an MMC.

My TWIC renewal is two years out of sync with my MMC renewal. I’m not aware of any connection between the TWIC and the MMC

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I don’t even know the last time I stepped foot in an REC to renew.

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Background check, they use the same photo, that’s probably about it.

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Same here, never finger printed to renew before TWIC showed up. But I do recall electronic fingerprinting with TWIC. But I’ve worked with righty extremists, lefty extremists & middle-eastern decent extremists who all held TWIC cards. All the 9/11 terrorists came in the US legally & could have obtained TWIC cards if it was around back then. The Fort Hood shooter, the Navy Philly Shipyard shooter, both of the recent New Orleans & Las Vegas EV truck terrorists & last weeks FSU shooter could all easily obtained TWIC cards if they wanted. These TWIC cards do jack shit at stopping terrorists or protecting US ports. Ain’t no wannabe terrorists sitting around pouting because they’re ineligible to get TWIC cards.

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Not true. It’s an FBI database but the USCG does the review accessing the database via fingerprints provided to TSA for the TWIC.

They wouldn’t “start” doing checks because they never stopped. The USCG check is independent of TWIC and the only connection to the FBI is that the USCG uses an FBI database, as does TSA/TWIC.

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