Yes, it’s true. Mule skinners (drivers) pose a threat to national security. This must be so because why else would they be required to have a TWIC? To be fair, the letter of the law says that anyone with a CG-issued mariner credential must also have a TWIC by the April 15th deadline or face suspension or revocation (S&R) action from the Coasties. But come on, have we really been reduced to this level of bureaucratic idiocy? It looks like the new DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the level-headed and pragmatic former-attorney general and governor of Arizona, might just sort this out in favor of sanity. But the fact that this has required congressional intervention is simply mind boggling. Surely this could have been handled satisfactorily at a lower level. Read the whole story of the Mule Skinner’s Blues at CNN, and I hereby thank Capt. Richard Rodriguez and his excellent PNW-oriented BitterEnd blog for the news flash.
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