Dems chide Bush over port security cards

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Senate Democrats accused the Bush administration on Thursday of bungling a much-needed port security program that has cost tens of millions of dollars and still isn't up and running.

The plan, overseen primarily by the Transportation Security Administration, calls for issuing high-tech, tamperproof ID cards to workers to gain access to secure areas of U.S. ports. The program, critics say, is beset by delays, cost overruns and missed deadlines.

The program has cost taxpayers more than $94 million, or about $60,000 per ID card, complained New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record).

"This kind of mismanagement is not fair to our workers. It's not fair to our ports," Lautenberg said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. "It's not the level of security that we need in our country."

The program, begun in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has undergone limited testing. Congressional investigators reported that 1,700 ID cards have been issued to workers during testing, well short of the program's goal of screening 75,000 workers and assigning them cards.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_go_co/ports_id_cards