Following the events of 9/11, we all recognize how important it is to control our borders, including our nation’s ports.  From unloading containers to processing cargo to reloading cargo on to trucks and rails, we should not let foreign-government owned entities operate our nation’s seaports.

I recently introduced the Secure America’s Port Operations Act, HR 4839, to prohibit foreign-government owned operations at our nation’s ports.  This legislation will help ensure that the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs & Border Protection Agency have reliable partners on the docks as ships and cargoes arrive from around the world.

As the lead Democrat on the House Trade Subcommittee, I recently joined with Rep. Clay Shaw, R-FL, the Chairman of the Trade Subcommittee, to introduce this bipartisan legislation.  Rep. Shaw represents the Port of Miami and has similar concerns about security.

The Port of Baltimore is the nation’s eighth largest port.  It handles about 2,000 ships a year, carrying about 31 million tons of cargo annually.  The Port is a significant economic engine for the entire region, providing more than 33,000 jobs for Marylanders and generating $1.5 billion in revenue every year. 

While we have improved security since 9/11, we still have much to do.  According to a study conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security, Baltimore is among “66 of the nation’s 359 ports especially vulnerable to terrorist attack.” 

I recently visited the Port of Baltimore and met with officials from the Customs and Border Protection Agency to review security procedures at the Port.  Customs officials inspect 12% of cargo coming through the Port of Baltimore – a much higher percentage than the rest of the nation.  But it’s also clear that there are many points along the cargo transit route that could present opportunities to smuggle in dangerous materiel.  We need to do a better job of securing and screening cargo to ensure that terrorists do not use our ports to transport weapons into our nation.

The decision to introduce this bill was a result of the Bush Administration’s recent announcement that Dubai Ports World (DPW), which is owned by the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), would purchase British Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O).  DPW recently announced it would transfer operational control of the six U.S. ports managed by P&O to a U.S. entity. In addition to the Port of Baltimore, the other ports include: Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia. 

The intelligence community has warned that the United States is more likely to be attacked by a weapon of mass destruction delivered by a ship, truck or airplane than by a ballistic missile.  Terrorists could use a container to smuggle people or weapons into the country.

In recent years, we have done much more to secure our nation’s airports with better screening of passengers and cargo.  It’s time to turn our attention to our nation’s seaports and give them the same type of security upgrades that we’ve given our airports.

International trade is a vital economic engine for our nation, but we should not jeopardize our nation’s security to keep trading partners happy.  It’s our duty to do all we can to ensure America’s ports are safe from a terrorist threat.

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