Government Accountability Office investigators were able to fraudulently obtain government-issued IDs for transportation workers and then used those IDs to sneak into sensitive areas of national ports, according to a GAO report unveiled at a Senate hearing Tuesday.
The covert investigators were also able to use the Transportation Worker Identification Credentials to drive a vehicle with a "simulated explosive" into a secure area, according to an opening statement from Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
The TWIC ID, first mandated by Congress in 2002, has long been criticized by security advocates who say the ID card was poorly rolled out and doesn't reduce the chance of a terrorist strike at a U.S. port.
GAO official Steve Lord said at Tuesday's hearing that the current version of the TWIC card is easier to obtain fraudulently or to counterfeit than most state drivers' licenses.
Tuesday's GAO report is the unclassified version of a classified report released earlier this month.
Joseph Marks
Joseph Marks covers government technology issues, social media, Gov 2.0 and global Internet freedom for Nextgov. He previously reported on federal litigation and legal policy for Law360 and on local, state and regional issues for two Midwestern newspapers. He also interned for Congressional Quarterly’s Homeland Security section and the Associated Press’s Jerusalem Bureau. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s in international affairs from Georgetown.
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