This reminder was sent to industry members on Thursday 3-27-2008 at 1:17pm.  There are some important tips for you in this so please read carefully.

Touch keys with you later,

N.

Greetings Industry Members:

Hello everyone, 

     Here is the latest information from the Seattle Regional Exam Center sent out today from the REC Chief, Tom Curley.

      This is either a HIP-HIP HURRAY or an OH $&$% depending on your point of view.

Touch keys with you later.

N.Greetings Industry Members:

Good day to you all,

     REC Seattle will, as of Thursday the 27th of March, become a TREC which means they have been transitioned back to the National Maritime Center (NMC) in West Virginia.

     What does this mean to you?  Well, that is a tuff question to answer and will depend on your point of view. 

     First of all, TREC Seattle will still be there for you but, their capacity to do most of the things that they have done for you in the past will no longer be available.   They will no longer do evaluations or issuance’s of your credentials.  Their purpose will be to assist you in assembling your paperwork for transmission to the NMC for processing, taking your fingerprints, giving you an Oath when applicable and verifying all of your original documents and making sure you are who you say you are. 

     If you go to a TREC and you do not have everything needed, in hand, they will tell you, as nicely as possible I hope, that you will need to come back with the missing items.  They simply will not be allowed to forward your package to the NMC if you do not have everything necessary for the original, renewal, endorsement, or raise in grade that you are applying for.

     This means a delay and frustration for you if you don’t know beforehand exactly what is needed.  I can help you there, but, you can look up what you need on line at the CG website as well.  So, I am suggesting that you use my services for convenience sake or do the now necessary home work in advance to save yourself some stressful times.

Touch keys with you later,

N.

It has been brought to my attention that the DEADLINE date for applying for your TWIC is not September 28, 2008 but actually SEPTEMBER 25TH 2008.

 Time is getting shorter so be sure to go the to TSA website and apply on line.

 Thank you Bryan for spotting this error.

 Touch keys with you later.

N.

Well, here is the latest and greatest on the REC’s Transitioning back to the National Maritime Center.  Being a retired Seattle REC employee with 22 years of experience in said REC, I have to say that even though there were many problems in the 17 REC’s such as back logs in doing evaluations and the varying degrees of interpretation of the regulations, this move back to West Virginia is a travesty.  Not so much for the REC employees’, even though that hurt a lot of folks, but first and foremost for the mariner, YOU, ALL OF YOU!I am hoping with all my heart that this is not another colossal CLUSTER.  Believe me when I say, that after 33 years with the feds, I have seen my share of colossal CLUSTERS.WOW, I forgot to put on my hip boots before I read this.  As I have said in the past, I truly respect and admire Capt. Stalfort, and I have to admire his PR folks for putting into words this piece of work, but COME ON PEOPLE!  How do you suppose they (the NMC) is going to promote better “Customer Service” when a person 5000 miles away is doing your evaluation?  Can you sit down with that evaluator and go over what is missing?  No, you will receive a letter in the mail that says you are denied for your license or MMD and you are missing this or that, end of story.  Now it is up to you to come up with what is missing and hope you get it right OR you will get another letter of denial.Now you go to your local REC for help and assistance right?  Your local REC will not be able to help you figure this out because they don’t have any better idea of what is wrong than you do.  All they can do is read your letter from NMC and try to figure it out just like you.  They, after all, do not have any idea what you sent in your package because they don’t have it to reference.  Unfortunately, all I can see is unnecessary DELAY AFTER DELAY AFTER DELAY.  Color me stupid, but this to me IS NOT GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE.Enjoy reading and I’ll touch keys with you later.

N.

P. S.  Don’t forget to get your TWIC card.  You need to sign up by September 28,2008 go to the TSA website for more information.

 REC SEATTLE AND REC SAN FRANCISCO TO TRANSITION TO NMC.March 17, 2008Commencing March 31, 2007, the Regional Examination Centers (REC’s) located in Seattle, WA and Oakland, CA will begin their transition to become field units of the National Maritime Center (NMC), located in Martinsburg, West Virginia.  REC Seattle and REC San Francisco will start operating as a storefront operation where the staffs will help the mariner ensure their application is ready for evaluation.  Once ready, the RECs will send the application to the NMC for evaluation.  The NMC will conduct an entire evaluation, including security, professional qualification, and medical.  Mariners will still need to verify their identity, get fingerprinted and take their tests at the REC.  Once the application is found to be fully qualified, the credential will be printed and issued by the NMC.REC Seattle and REC San Francisco will be joining eight other RECs, who have already transitioned:  REC Anchorage, Alaska; REC Baltimore, Maryland; REC Juneau, Alaska; REC New Orleans, Louisiana; REC Toledo, OH; REC St. Louis, MO; REC Memphis, TN; and REC Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA.  Bu the end of this calendar year, all 17 RECs nationwide will have transitioned to NMC field units.The future role of the transitioned RECs will be primarily that of a mariner advocate.  As the “face” of the Coast Guard to the mariner, it is essential that they help the mariner complete the application and ensure it is ready to be evaluated before forwarding the application to the NMC for evaluation.The goal of the restructuring and centralization effort is to improve customer service, decrease credential processing time, and improve the consistency of our products.  In the futur4e, it is envisioned that credentials will be issued faster and the level of customer service will exceed the mariner’s expectations.If you have specific questions regarding the transition process, please contact your local REC or see the ‘REC Transition Guide” on our web site at http://www.uscg.mil/stcw/wnnmc.htm.For more information on other improvements we’re making to Mariner Licensing and Documentation go to our web site at http://www.uscg.mil/stcw/wnnmc.htm or to http://homeport.uscg.mil and select Merchant Mariners under the list of Missions.We thank you for your patience as we continue to centralize operations.SincerelyDavid C. StalfortCaptain, U.S. Coast Guard

 The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) is a vital security measure that will ensure individuals who pose a threat do not gain unescorted access to secure areas of the nation’s maritime transportation system.

TWIC was established by Congress through the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and is administered by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Coast Guard. TWICs are tamper-resistant biometric credentials that will be issued to workers who require unescorted access to secure areas of ports, vessels, outer continental shelf facilities and all credentialed merchant mariners. It is anticipated that more than 750,000 workers including longshoremen, truckers, port employees and others will be required to obtain a TWIC.

Enrollment and issuance began at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware October 16, 2007 and will continue through calendar year 2008. To obtain a TWIC, an individual must provide biographic and biometric information such as fingerprints, sit for a digital photograph and successfully pass a security threat assessment conducted by TSA. Pre-enrollment is recommended as it is designed to save the applicant time by enabling them to provide their biographical information and make an appointment for in-person enrollment.

Currently, there are no regulatory requirements pertaining to the use of TWIC readers. However, initial testing and evaluation of TWIC readers is will begin in calendar year 2008 as part of our pilot phase. Click here to learn more about the TWIC reader pilot activities.

The TWIC Reader Hardware and Card Application Specification (September 11, 2007 edition) was published on September 20, 2007 in the Federal Register. Vendors are currently developing contactless readers to operate with a TWIC based on this specification.

Once readers are available and independently tested for compliance with this specification, TSA will deploy card readers at test sites early in calendar year 2008. Upon the completion of these testing efforts, a final test report will be published.

As required under the SAFE Ports Act, DHS will implement final reader requirements through a rulemaking process. The data obtained during the pilot test will be taken into consideration in the TWIC reader regulation.

Please refer to the TWIC Pilot Test Section of the FAQs for additional information on the pilot and specification, as well as other up-to-date information.

END— 

There is much more to read than I have copied here.  I would suggest that you sign up for all of the TWIC information so you can be keeping up on it.  Make sure that you contact one of the TWIC Enrollment Centers and get pre-enrolled before the dead line of September 28, 2008.

 I know that I feel this is a complete waste of time and money especially if you are already holding a Merchant Mariners Document (MMD) or a License as Master, Mate or Engineer.  However, like it or not, it is here and since we did not have the where-with-all to fight this properly in the beginning, we are now stuck with the results.

Touch keys with you later.

N.

Here is the latest update on TWIC.  Please make sure that you remind everyone you know, who is in the industry, that they must apply for a TWIC before September 2008. 

Touch keys with you later.

N.

Enrollment Dates for TWIC in 10

Ports

Press Release

March 04, 2008

TSA Public Affairs: (571) 227-2829
U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs: (202) 372-4620

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that enrollment in the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program will begin at 10 more locations in the coming weeks. This program ensures that any individual who has unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities and vessels has received a thorough background check and is not a known security threat.

TWIC enrollment began Oct. 16, 2007 at the Port of Wilmington, Del. The addition of these 10 locations will bring the number of fixed enrollment centers open for enrollment to 88. Ultimately, the program will be rolled out to 147 fixed enrollment sites and will vet more than 1 million workers through 2008.

“TWIC is one of the world’s most advanced interoperable biometric systems and raises the bar on port security,” said the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Maurine Fanguy, program director for TWIC. “We are off to a strong start with approximately 130,000 enrollments in the first four and half months.”

Today, the TSA released specific dates for the following ports:

• Marine City, Mich. - March 5, 2008
• St. Louis, Mo. - March 5, 2008
• Palm Beach, Fla. - March 6, 2008
• St. Ignace, Mich. - March 6, 2008
• Newport News, Va. - March 12, 2008
• Panama City, Fla. - March 12, 2008
• San Diego, Calif. - March 13, 2008
• Gulfport, Miss. - March 19, 2008
• Key West, Fla. - March 19, 2008
• Traverse City, Mich. - March 20, 2008

Workers at these ports, as well as another 78 where enrollment has begun, are able to pre-enroll for TWIC on the TSA Web site (www.tsa.gov/twic). Pre-enrollment is intended to speed up the process by allowing workers to provide biographic information and schedule an appointment to complete the in-person enrollment process.

More information on the TWIC program is available at www.tsa.gov/twic and additional information on port security is available at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Homeport site at http://homeport.uscg.mil by clicking on the Maritime Security link.