TWIC is a back door REAL ID card.

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 Transportation 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. Those with the Smart Cards may even begin to think it would be "just" if everyone had one. It's a classic totalitarian strategy, summed up by the German Pastor Martin Niemoller . . .

"...first (they came) for the Communists,
And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . .
and by that time there was no one left to speak up."

Lowell Rogers may be among the first that they're "coming for," but he won't be the last. The President has issued a presidential directive, HSD12, aiming to force all federal employees AND CONTRACTORS to carry a Smart Card. This means government employees and contractors will be the first part of the herd they pick-off. There are 1.8 million federal employees, excluding elected officials, the military, and employees of the Postal Service. But it won't end there.

DHS is also attempting to impose Smart Cards on truckers and railroad workers, covering another 3.5 million workers. And the maritime/TWIC portion of the strategy will apply to about 700,000 workers.

If DHS can "come for" these 6 million people, how long before you think they're going to get you too? Preventing this from happening starts with defending Lowell Rogers. He's willing to stand up and resist, at the potential loss of his career. How about you? Please send Congress a message asking them to repeal and defund the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC card).

You can learn more about TWIC on our Background page, and REAL ID at our campaign page for repealing the READ ID Act.