From Bloomberg News:

Congress Ready to Tighten Security, Add Detectors at U.S. Ports

April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Congress is likely to approve measures this year to tighten security at U.S. ports, including requiring the installation of radiation and nuclear detectors, lawmakers said.

Legislation being considered in both the Senate and House would also ease customs inspections for importers such as Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer. In exchange, the companies would be required to tighten the security of their shipments.

Congressional Republicans, reacting to election-year political pressures, have put the bipartisan-sponsored measures on a fast track for committee consideration and passage this year. The $4 billion, five-year proposals had been languishing in committee until last month's public outcry over the abortive effort by a Dubai-owned company to take over terminal operations at six major U.S. ports.

``If anything positive came out of Dubai ports, it was the awakening of American people to just how important port security is,'' House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, a New York Republican, said during a Washington hearing yesterday. The House legislation ``is a very significant step forward.''

Democrats, seeking to overcome Republicans' traditional advantage with voters on defense and terrorism issues, last week offered their own national security strategy, which embraces the increased searches at ports that the legislation would mandate.

Competition

Democratic Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey want Congress to pass a tougher measure that would earmark an additional $1 billion for port security and mandate the inspection of all cargo containers. They are sponsoring legislation that would bar a foreign-owned company from running terminal operations at U.S. ports.

The Democrats' push has introduced an element of competition. ``The Republicans don't want to get beaten to the punch on this,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, a homeland security analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Democrats need to win six seats in the November elections to capture the 100-seat Senate from Republicans and a gain of 17 seats to take control of the 435-member House.

Rating Slips

A March 16-17 Newsweek poll of registered voters suggested support for Republicans has slipped. Fifty percent said they would back Democratic candidates, compared with 39 percent who supported Republicans. Bush's job performance rating stood at 36 percent, and 44 percent approved of his handling of homeland security, down from 57 percent a year ago.

House and Senate committees are likely to consider the port-security measures during the last week of this month. Both versions of the legislation would enhance programs already established by the Homeland Security Department.

A congressional audit released March 28 said that, at its current pace, the department won't meet its goals for installing monitors to screen cargo at all U.S. ports for nuclear weapons and other radiological material.

Measures in both houses would require the department to expand the data it puts into a computerized system used to detect suspect cargo. A Senate report released on March 30 said the system has ``significant flaws.''

Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson has said the department is making improvements.

GreenLane Plan

Under the proposed measures, importers who agree to impose their own stringent security could speed their shipments through the customs process. The department would check within a year to make sure participants in this program, which in the Senate legislation is called GreenLane, have tight security over their cargo.

The Senate report found that Customs authorities now spot- check security on only one of a company's many shipment routes.

The department would need to develop guidelines for securing containers, as well.

The legislation suggests increased spending for all these initiatives through 2012. Overall, the legislation would boost money for some existing programs by about 40 percent and create new programs as well.

Incentives

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said that, while department officials worry that some provisions duplicate their efforts, they will work with Congress. ``We agree with the concept that we should provide incentives to encourage security practices that go beyond mandated law and regulation,'' he said.

Lawmakers, in their rush to pass legislation, must be careful not to impose new standards and deadlines that will do more harm than good, said Erik Autor, vice president of the Washington-based National Retail Federation. ``I'm not sure members have the time to think through these issues or want to,'' he said.

Autor said he's concerned that both chambers' measures would allow third-party firms, not U.S. Customs, to assess whether companies are putting the tougher security in place. ``It provides no guidance whatsoever on who these third-party validators would be,'' he said.

In addition, some countries such as China may not allow Customs officials or a U.S.-based company to check security, forcing the U.S. to use Chinese companies to do the validation.

The legislation could pass before ``some member of Congress realizes we've outsourced our security to a foreign company,'' Autor said.

Trade Flow

Stephen Lamar, senior vice president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, based in Arlington, Virginia, said the clothing industry lobbyist hasn't taken a position on the legislation but would want any measure not to impede trade.

``We have concerns when people are rushing to do things that aren't grounded in the balance of making commerce secure and making commerce flow,'' he said.

James Carafano, a national security analyst with the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said he worries the legislation might lull Americans into a false sense of security.

The legislation would do little to protect against land- based attacks on ports and is too focused on preventing nuclear weapons from entering U.S. harbors, he said. Terrorists probably won't send such a valuable asset as a nuclear bomb through the shipping system, Carafano said.