Ports and terrorism

How many of the 300 ports in the US have been attacked by terrorism?

Zero!

In ports around the world how many terrorist attacks have taken place?

One.

The attack on the USS Cole as it was docking in Yemen in 2000. Since that time port security around the world as well as US warships having new rules of engagement have resulted in no successful attacks. Actually I am not aware of any unsuccessful attacks since then. Al Qaeda has not shown either the desire or the capacity to attack ports.

In the US the Coast Guard is in charge of port security. What does it do?

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We begin with a regulation we put in place over two years ago, the 24-hour rule, where we have the ability to get all the manifest information submitted electronically from the carrier 24 hours in advance of waiting in a foreign port. We then score that for risk at a national targeting center where we have intelligence information and an expert rule based system to score the container shipments for risk before they're even placed on board the vessels.

We also have, 42 foreign ports now have Customs and Border Protection officers there that actually work with host country nation counterparts be it custom authorities in that location or the law enforcement authority that has jurisdiction over the ports. They actually go out and use large scale x-ray systems and radiation detection capabilities to resolve the risk, as well. And then upon arrival in our shores here in the United States, we still have our officers who are trained and highly skilled at doing what they're doing, as well as a considerable amount of technology to include radiation and x-ray containers capabilities at our ports here in the United States as well.

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Well, I like to explain it that we have responsibility for the vessels that carry the cargo, and the facilities that house the cargo. And Customs and Border Protection has responsibility for the cargo itself. I think we work very well together and I would just like to say, since 9/11 we have a piece of legislation, the Marine Transportation Security Act, that gives us wide responsibilities to not only provide security for the facilities, but also for all vessels that come into U.S. ports. We get a 96-hour advance notice that provides us with the cargo manifests and with all crew members that we can run through a database. And in addition, as the vessel comes in we track it with automated identification, and through our VTS on its transit through the ports. But we can decide who, with a risk-based matrix, who we board outside the port and who we board once we get into the port.

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The real question is whether the truth will ever catch up with the demogogery on the issue of port security.