Daily Breeze Editorial

Congresswoman Jane Harman - Opinion

Full steam ahead on port security proposal

Daily Breeze Editorial
April 9, 2006

The Dubai Ports World deal that would have transferred some U.S. port business to the Middle East company created a political firestorm earlier this year. Actually, there was more smoke than fire during that blowup, but the incident did create a sympathetic climate in Congress for upgrading lax security at U.S. ports.

As a result, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by South Bay Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo, and Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, is advancing in the House of Representatives. The Security and Accountability for Every Port Act, HR 4954, would provide needed safeguards for a major part of the U.S. economy.

Specifically, the legislation would provide $400 million annually for port security grants, or $2 billion over five years. In addition, these funds would be allocated on a risk-based formula, meaning that the high-profile Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would get their fair share of funding to help shield their operations against terror attacks.

California ports in Los Angeles County, San Francisco and Oakland together handle 47 percent of all cargo containers shipped into the United States.

HR 4954 would require that 100 percent of so-called high-risk containers be scanned for radiation. The bill would establish security standards for all containers six months after it is enacted.

Today less than 5 percent of the containers are inspected.

Another needed change outlined in the bill would require all employees doing sensitive work at U.S. ports to be issued identification cards within at least two years. In the meantime, the names of individuals with access to sensitive port areas would be checked against terrorist watch lists.

The legislation is also forward-looking in that it calls on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to develop a strategy for resuming trade in the aftermath of a terror attack on shipping.

And it calls for improved relations between the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector to tighten security measures all along the supply chain. That would include the examination of high-risk maritime cargo at foreign seaports bound for the United States.

The nation has already spent billions of dollars to shore up airport security in the wake of the 9-11 terrorists attacks. Putting safeguards on the movement of goods into American ports is just as sensible.

Congress should quickly pass a multilayered plan containing the principles advocated by Harman and other federal lawmakers as a way to provide economic security for all U.S. citizens and peace of mind for those who live and work near the nation's busiest ports.