From the Emergency Management blog:
REAL ID and The Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC) are two examples of how the Federal government is trying to develop standards for identification cards.
The “troubled” TWIC card program, like REAL ID, has been delayed time and again. Now the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is providing a modification to address the costs and hassles associated with transportation workers renewing their TWIC cards. See the new Extended Expiration Date (EED) concept that cuts costs and makes the renewal less troublesome for the million plus workers who must maintain a TWIC based on their employment in the transportation industry.
The final rule making by the Coast Guard on biometric readers for TWIC has been delayed several times. Now it is due out in early 2013 (after the elections are over) and who knows what it will say. Ports and terminal operators are leery of investing funding in these systems given the lack of implementation over the years.