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Veterans' Day Ceremony - Greer Band |
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| Port Security |
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On September 30, 2006, Congress passed crucial legislation to enhance the safety of American ports. While the legislation outlines serious steps to ensure that America’s ports are secure, it does not include language ensuring that workers with access to secure areas in our ports are trustworthy and do not pose a terrorism risk.
During the Senate’s consideration of the Port Security Act, I offered and the Senate unanimously approved language denying access to secure areas in our ports to serious felons who had been convicted of:- Espionage
- Sedition
- Treason
- Terrorism
- Crimes involving transportation security
- Improper transport of a hazardous material
- Unlawful use of an explosive device
- Murder
- Violations of the RICO Act where one of the above crimes is a predicate act
- Conspiracy to commit any of these crimes
It would have also barred convicted felons who had been convicted in the last seven years (or incarcerated in the last five years) of: - Assault with intent to murder
- Kidnapping or hostage taking
- Rape or aggravated sexual abuse
- Unlawful use of a firearm
- Extortion
- Fraud
- Bribery
- Smuggling
- Immigration violations
- Racketeering
- Robbery
- Drug dealing
- Arson
- Conspiracy to commit any of these crimes
These restrictions are nearly identical to the prohibitions that keep criminals from working at American airports.
Unfortunately, the language was stripped in conference and the only people prohibited by Congress from having access to the secure areas of our ports are convicted traitors, spies, and terrorists – a population of criminals so small it doesn’t begin to address the security problems at our ports.
Law enforcement officials understand the threat our ports face when traditional crime, particularly organized crime, works with terrorists. Just recently, the FBI apprehended a member of the Russian mafia attempting to sell missiles to an FBI agent he thought was acting as a middleman for terrorists. Joseph Billy Jr., the FBI’s top counterterrorism official, commented that the FBI is “continuing to look for a nexus,” between organized crime and terrorists and that they “are looking at this very aggressively.”
Congress also needs to act aggressively to do its part to ensure that the workforce in America’s ports does not pose a homeland security threat. The threat isn’t only criminals working directly with terrorists; it is criminals looking the other way when a suspect container comes through the port. Joseph King, a former Customs Service agent and now a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, outlined the concern very clearly. “It’s an invitation to smuggling of all kinds,” he said. “Instead of bringing in 50 kilograms of heroin, what would stop them from bringing in five kilograms of plutonium?” A criminal in one of our ports may think he is just helping smuggle in drugs, but inadvertently be helping smuggle a weapon of mass destruction into the United States.
Regardless of the motives of criminals, having serious felons working in secure areas of our ports poses a real threat to our homeland security.
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Charleston
112 Custom House
200 East Bay St
Charleston, SC 29401
P: 843-727-4525
F: 843-722-4923
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Columbia
1901 Main St
Suite 1475
Columbia, SC 29201
P: 803-771-6112
F: 803-771-6455
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Greenville
105 North Spring St
Suite 109
Greenville, SC 29601
P: 864-233-5366
F: 864-271-8901
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Washington, D.C.
340 Russell
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
P: 202-224-6121
F: 202-228-5143
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