Public Comments TWIC Reader ANPRM – 04-03-09

The first three comments on the TWIC Reader ANPRM came a lot quicker (within a week) than I would have expected. Two of these were private individual comments rather than company comments so they did not have to go through the normal corporate approval process. In fact, the comment from Mr. Ainsworth was more of a TWIC related comment not a TWIC Reader comment. The comments were received from: Edwin Madura John Ainsworth Bayou Tugs Edwin Madura Comments Mr. Madura notes that there should be provisions made for facilities that only periodically fall under the high-risk category. He provides the example of “a facility [that] ships one container of small arms ammo every three years… should not be classified as a Risk Group A for the intervening 35 months”. Bayou Tugs Comments Mr. Naquin of Bayou Tugs has two question:

“Does the term "each entry" refer to each entry into a designated Restricted Area or each entry into the vessel?” “What technology will be used to download Hotlist data?”

On the second question he notes that vessels frequently operate outside of wireless internet access zones. My Comments on Comments The problem of intermittent security status needs to be addressed in these regulations. I am afraid that some facilities are going to have to make a decision as to whether or not they feel that the cost of security requirements will be worth the intermittent business. Security plans will certainly have to address the transition between Risk Groups. The regulations will have to address the requirements for the transition; for example how long before and after the high-risk cargo leaves the facility will the security procedures need to be applied. As I understand things the ‘for each entry’ requirements are for each entry into an MTSA ‘secure area’. In some cases this will be an entire vessel, in other cases it will only be designated areas within the vessel. A large cruise line vessel would certainly not be a unitary ‘secure’ area. This definition will need to be made clear. Finally, the issue of ‘Hot List’ updates will need close attention. This will almost certainly be done via the internet, but provisions will have to be made for vessels out of contact with internet service. In most cases vessels will not need to have their ‘Hot List’ updated until just before they come into port, so this may not be a serious issue.