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About This Report
To help it implement the final reader rule entitled “Transportation Worker Identification Credential
(TWIC)—Reader Requirements,” the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) asked the Homeland Security Operational
Analysis Center (HSOAC) to estimate the population of the Maritime Transportation Security Act–regulated
facilities that the rule might affect; develop a transparent, objective risk assessment model for these facilities;
and conduct a cost–benefit analysis of the regulation.
This report describes our analytical efforts to address the three research areas mentioned above. Because
there is no database of Maritime Transportation Security Act–regulated facilities with all the requisite infor-
mation about certain dangerous cargoes that facilities handle in bulk, we resorted to other data sources, such
as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s databases, an online survey, and interviews, to estimate the
facility population. For the facility risk model, we used the modeling approach for assessing potential con-
sequence included in the risk engine of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Chemical
Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, harmonizing the TWIC and CFATS programs in con-
sequence assessment. Because there was no credible estimate for the probability of a transportation security
incident, we used a break-even analysis to assess whether the final reader rule is cost-effective.
This research was sponsored by the USCG Office of Standards Evaluation and Development and con-
ducted within the Strategy, Policy, and Operations Program of the HSOAC federally funded research and
development center (FFRDC).
About the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Section305 of Public Law107-296, as codified at 6U.S.C. §185) autho-
rizes the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology,
to establish one or more FFRDCs to provide independent analysis of homeland security issues. The RAND
Corporation operates HSOAC as an FFRDC for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under
contractHSHQDC-16-D-00007.
The HSOAC FFRDC provides the government with independent and objective analyses and advice in
core areas important to the department in support of policy development, decisionmaking, alternative
approaches, and new ideas on issues of significance. The HSOAC FFRDC also works with and supports
other federal, state, local, tribal, and public- and private-sector organizations that make up the homeland
security enterprise. The HSOAC FFRDC’s research is undertaken by mutual consent with DHS and is orga-
nized as a set of discrete tasks. This report presents the results of research and analysis conducted under task
order 70Z02320FMSR04300, Risk-Informed Analysis of Transportation Worker Identification Credential
(TWIC) Reader Requirements.
The results presented in this report do not necessarily reflect official DHS opinion or policy.
For more information on HSOAC, see www.rand.org/hsoac. For more information on this publication,
see www.rand.org/t/RRA1687-1.
Acknowledgments
We want to acknowledge Kimberly Wilson, Jeffrey Horn, and their colleagues in the USCG Office of Stan-
dards Evaluation and Development; and Bradley Clare, Nicolette Vaughan, Andrew Meyers, and their col-
leagues in the USCG Office of Port and Facility Compliance for their strong support and expert guidance
