Unalaska, AK – A TWIC office will open in Unalaska soon. TWIC, or Transportation Worker Identification Credentials, is a federal homeland security program that requires any one who enters or works in secure areas on docks or marine vessels to have an identification card. Applying for the card requires background checks, finger printing, and two visits to an approved TWIC office.

The TWIC office in Anchorage sent a remote registration unit to the community three times over the past two years, but any one who missed the visits had to fly to Anchorage to get the card. Mayor Shirley Marquardt said this is impractical in a community with a constantly fluctuating work force. Starting sometime in February, people will only have to travel to City Hall.

Marquardt and city staff have been working with the federal government to apply for a grant and open the office for over a year. "To get this grant they wanted satellite photos of city hall to show that there was enough parking," said Marquardt. "They wanted photographic evidence of our restrooms. They inquired to see if we have hot water. I just thought, well hello!"

The government approved the development of the office in a storage closet in City Hall. Now, the government needs to train "trusted agents" to run the office. The agents include city hall staff, ILWU workers and PacSteve workers. The three organizations will donate their workers' time to keep the office open for two half-days per week. But those workers are still submitting security information to the government.

"They have to have FBI checks, they have to have finger prints taken and sent in with copies of their TWIC cards. There are forms to be filled out where you literally have to get people who have known you for more than ten years to sit down and write that Yes, they know you. Yes, you do this job. Yes, you're a decent person,'" explained Marquardt.

Once the final information is submitted, a trainer will come to Unalaska with the equipment and set up the office. Information on office hours will be available then. This is the first remote TWIC office in the state. Sitka and Ketchikan are also trying to open offices.