America’s Ports
Our Vital (and Vulnerable) Connections to the World
During peacetime, they are our Nation’s doorways to international trade. During wartime, they push vital supplies to our troops overseas. They are America’s Ports, and they are indispensable to the economic health of our Nation.
America’s Top Ports
A port is a city containing a harbor (having piers for docking and logistic structures) where ships can load or unload. Ports often have customs officers to oversee the inspection of arriving or departing people and goods. In the United States, the top ten commercial seaports in 2014 were:[1]
1. Los Angeles, CA.
2. Long Beach, CA.
3. New York/Newark.
4. Savannah, GA.
5. Norfolk, VA.
6. Tacoma, WA.
7. Oakland, CA.
8. Houston, TX.
9. Charleston, SC.
10. Seattle, WA.
Could Terrorists Attack These Vital U.S. Ports?
Experts warn U.S. ports could be tempting targets for terrorists bent on killing large numbers of people, grabbing media attention, and disrupting the U.S. economy. Port, ferry, and cruise-ship terminals are often located in highly congested areas where large numbers of people live and work. Liquefied natural gas refineries that produce highly volatile petrochemicals and convert crude oil into gasoline and heating oil are also often located near ports, as well.
Council of Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Stephen Flynn says “maritime transportation is one of our nation’s most serious vulnerabilities.” U.S. Coast Guard personnel and Customs agents can thoroughly inspect only about 5 percent of the 14 million shipping containers that arrive at U.S. ports every year. Though the Customs Service is using increasingly sophisticated risk-assessment technology to choose which shipments to inspect, many outside experts are unsure about the system’s effectiveness.[2]
What Measures Can Be Taken to Better Protect U.S. Ports?
Before 9/11 port security was primarily focused on screening cargo to ensure smooth business operations, but since those attacks, homeland security has increasingly focused on protecting the physical infrastructure of ports, as well. Now, port security has become a top priority.
For example, the Port of Long Beach has added a sophisticated series of security measures in recent years to monitor the vast, 3,200 acre port.
For detecting water-born threats, the port deploys a sophisticated sonar system to detect any changes or abnormalities underwater. It also deploys unmanned remote controlled submersible surveillance vehicles to detect underwater threats.
Long Beach has also deployed a military-grade radar system to detect all ships in the nearby vicinity. Cargo ships are required to carry transponders that identify the vessel and where it is located, while the radar has the capability to detect small craft lacking such transponders.
“With combining sonar and radar, we have coverage of a significant area of the approaches to the port,” said Cosmo Perrone, the director of security at the Port of Long Beach.[3]
For detecting land-born threats, the port is assisted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which focuses heavily on screening cargo containers using large non-intrusive x-ray devices that can quickly generate an image of what’s inside each shipping container.
Further, while CBP is responsible for operating radiation detection equipment, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard actively assist in securing the physical entry points of all facilities.
Other Port of Long Beach security measures include a $3 million screening vessel that can scan the contents of a ship as it passes through the port, a radiation-detecting helicopter, and chemical weapons detecting canine teams.
These examples of port security measures come with an expensive price tag. But the loss of billions of dollars in international trade, were a port to be successfully sabotaged by terrorists, would be a much higher price for the Nation to pay.
PORT SECURITY, AMERICA, VULNERABLE
Brought to you by Scipio Securitas — Improving Homeland Security Awareness!
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