As Chairman of the Safe Commerce Coalition, I’ve spoken to a number of audiences lately about the issue of cargo and supply chain security. I find myself often having to remind folks that when we stood up the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, we had a two-fold mission when it came to border security. First was to secure the borders. The second mission, which is sometimes forgotten, is to maintain the free and efficient flow of commerce and people.
The Department of Homeland Security recently announced a strategy to combat threats posed by terrorists trying to use small boats for attacks in US waters – one that aligns with a number of previously-recommended strategies including an emphasis on local / state government control and self-regulation on the boats themselves to watch out for potential threats.
The Heritage Foundation will host next week a forum on cargo security entitled Homeland Security and Inspecting Shipping Containers: Debating the Way Forward. Two of Security Debrief’s contributors will participate – former DHS Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson, who is also now head of the Safe Commerce Coalition, and Dr. James Carafano, who is the senior fellow for foreign policy, homeland security and counter-terrorism issues at the Foundation.
One of the great things about the Internet is that anyone with anything on their mind can say anything they want, regardless of how informed and insightful they might be. To illustrate this point I present Exhibit A – David Axe of Wired Magazine’s latest posting, “It’s a Major Prize,” attacking Admiral Allen and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Despite the President’s budget to limit port security grant funding to $210 million for FY’09, the Senate passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2009 Congressional Budget Resolution last week (March 14) by a vote of 51-44. Originally, port security grant funding was not in the President’s budget but cam about out of a bipartisan effort to ensure security funding was a priority in the Congressional budget. To move the funding where it is today has not been an easy task, and we now must focus to ensure the grant program can sustain our security levels
Threat is found in all sorts of places and even in the smallest of places such as small boats. These craft come in all shapes and sizes, from smaller pleasure craft all the way to speedboats, and a thousand other private and commercial platforms. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security faces a difficult task in trying to track, control and mitigate the risks posed by the millions of small boats that regularly operate in U.S. waters. Congress and the Administration should invest in assets that improve the overall security of the maritime domain.
Admiral Allen focused on the challenges facing future Coast Guard border security and rescue missions with an aged and diminishing fleet. He noted that the post 9/11 mission for the Coast Guard placed additional demands on an already strained fleet and personnel, and suggested that Americans might be alarmed if they knew the nation’s premier marine lifesaving outfit could fit into the Washington Nationals’ new stadium.
With Congress threatening to force TSA to physically examine every piece of cargo prior to accepting it for transport, the air cargo system faces a near-certain failure. Today’s US aviation industry is fighting for its very survival; industry consolidation will take place as carriers look for cost savings. Jet fuel prices are beyond sustainable levels with the current ticket pricing structure. A Congressional mandate along an apparent misinterpretation of the 9/11 Law to mandate physical screening of every box, may well cause the Perfect Storm that causes the demise of the airline industry.
Congress has much to do to improve on its below-par performance on homeland security in 2007. These five priorities are good places to start: Consolidate congressional oversight of DHS; stop turning DHS grants into pork barrel grabfests; establish an Undersecretary for DHS; repeal the damaging mandate to scan 100 percent of all cargo; finish immigration reform.
This is the first time Congress has fully funded the ports’ annual security request of $400 million — an important step forward for the nation’s critical security of its port infrastructure.
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