CTA working FAST for trucker security card

OTTAWA, (Aug. 5, 2003) — After receiving positive feedback from the Canadian government last month, the Canadian Trucking Alliance said that U.S. authorities are also warming to the idea of allowing the FAST card to be used as an all-purpose security I.D. for Canadian truckers.

Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary of Border & Transportation Security at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said he likes the CTA’s suggestion that the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) card process be used for security credentialing of Canadian truck drivers.

The CTA has been concerned with the ability of Canadians to comply with new U.S. hazmat requirements and to obtain a U.S. Transportation Worker Identity Card (TWIC), which will be required by all U.S. transportation workers in the near future, but for which there is presently no mechanism for Canadian truck drivers to even apply for.

In a letter to Alliance CEO David Bradley, the U.S. transportation security chief says that one of his department’s objectives “is to build on the success of credentialing programs like Free & Secure Trade (FAST) and in furtherance of this objective, your recommendation to utilize the FAST process for cross-border security credentialing merits additional consideration by TSA and the TWIC program.”

Bradley and Hutchinson have met twice in recent months at events where the two were speaking on border security issues. “If we can use the FAST card as the platform for other security credentialing requirements for our drivers, it could solve a lot of problems for everyone concerned,” Bradley said.