Tighter security in store for seaports: the Bush team wants to spend $11 billion to protect the nation's harbors from terrorist attacks. But critics fear the new security initiatives will stifle global trade

Insight on the News, Feb 25, 2002 by Jamie Dettmer

President George W. Bush has proposed spending $11 billion next year to protect U.S. land, sea and air borders. The president's package, which includes the biggest funding increase in the U.S. Coast Guard's history, has been welcomed by security experts as a promising start, but they caution that the homeland-security challenge ahead is daunting and argue that much will have to change.

Among the biggest challenges lies in trying to secure America's 361 deep-water seaports, which receive more than 6 million cargo containers and 156 million tons of hazardous materials a year.

Already some experts and U.S. Customs officials say not enough has been done in the short term to beef up maritime security and to render the seaports less vulnerable to terrorist attacks or infiltration. Lawmakers started raising concerns about the vulnerability of the nation's seaports in November 2001 after Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis warned that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and three other California suspension bridges might be on al-Qaeda hit lists. The U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard also went into a state of high alert after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York City and Washington as fears mounted that terrorists might be tempted to seize a commercial vessel and steam it, fully loaded with explosives or hazardous materials, into a port -- the maritime equivalent of hijacking planes and turning them into flying bombs.

At several ports around the country, Coast Guard cutters started escorting vessels that might be converted into potential weapons; those carrying hazardous materials were carefully monitored. The Coast Guard also tightened the rules requiring shipping companies to provide crew rosters and cargo manifests before entering U.S. ports. Previously the deadline for this had been 24 hours in advance, but that was changed to 96 hours in November 2001. Armed Coast Guard "sea marshals" began to board ships as they entered and left busy harbors in California.

But some security experts tell INSIGHT that there has been a noticeable falling off in the increased maritime vigilance the United States experienced immediately after Sept. 11. And former and current U.S. Customs officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say there has been little or no systemic change in how their service works at U.S. seaports. They point to the California coastline with particular concern. "There are 250,000 private yachts registered between Long Beach and San Diego," says one former Customs inspector. "Even before 9/11, and when we were just worried about narcotics, some of us were unhappy with the lack of vigilance. Less than 10 percent of noncommercial private vessels are inspected by Customs."

The former official added: "The law requires captains who have sailed from foreign ports or been in foreign waters to report to Customs on arrival, but the vast majority don't bother and we have turned a blind eye, partly because the volume is overwhelming." According to a Customs official at Long Beach, the third-busiest U.S. commercial port, "as far as inspections are concerned, either of private yachts or container traffic, there have been no additional measures taken here."

Bush-administration officials concede that the seaports -- many of which are surrounded by propane, petroleum and chemical plants and storage facilities -- remain highly vulnerable to covert attack. The greatest fear is that a container with a "dirty" nuclear or chemical weapon might be slipped into a U.S. port with devastating consequences. "A terrorist act involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons at one of these seaports could result in extensive loss of lives, property and business; affect the operations of harbors and the transportation infrastructure, including bridges, railroads and highways; and cause extensive environmental damage," Amanda DeBusk, former commissioner of the Interagency Commission on Crime and Security in U.S. Seaports, told the Senate Government Affairs Committee last year.

And, at a Washington conference in January, the U.S. Customs commissioner remarked: "Of ever greater concern are the possibilities that international terrorists such as al-Qaeda could smuggle a crude nuclear device."

The Bush administration and federal lawmakers have moved quickly to try to plug security gaps at the nation's seaports and overcome security shortfalls. A bill co-sponsored in the Senate by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Ernest Hollings of South Carolina was passed shortly before Christmas. That bill, still to be approved by the House, also would allot $168 million for new technology to monitor the 16,000 or so containers that enter the United States on average each day, and provide $145 million for 1,200 new Customs inspectors.

This measure, which has the backing of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Coast Guard commandant Adm. James Loy, also calls for background checks on port workers, requires ships to file cargo manifests electronically before entering port, expands the sea-marshal program and requires all deep-water ports to develop comprehensive security plans. It also would empower the transportation secretary to bar any vessel from "providing transportation" to a port visited by ships serving another port that does not "maintain and carry out effective security measures."