Lowell Rogers has been an engineer on a brownwater tugboat for 23 years. He loves his work, and his employer likes the way Lowell does his job. But starting April 2009, thanks to the Maritime Safety Act, Lowell's employer will have to assume he's a potential terrorist, unless he has a Transporation Worker Identification Credential -- a TWIC card.
The TWIC card will require a criminal background check, and will include Smart Card biometric identifiers. It will place sensitive information about Lowell into a centralized government database. Lowell, as an act of patriotism, will refuse to take what he calls "the Mark of the Beast," and his 23-year career will come to an end. Here's why this matters to you . . .
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants you to have a Real ID card that's very similar to the TWIC card. But DHS is failing to implement the Real ID because state governments are resisting. Twenty one states are refusing to comply with the REAL ID. It's probably the biggest rebellion against the federal government since the Civil War. So what can the DHS do to overcome this rebellion?
They can "pick off the herd" -- hit one industry at a time until so many people have Smart Cards no one is left to resist.
