"On Monday, U.S. Coast Guard Commander Stephen Flynn wrote in the New York Times "We must find a way to reduce the potential of our global transport lifelines to be conduits for terrorism. There needs to be a far greater international cooperation in policing transnational flows of people and goods."
"There is a collateral benefit. Seaports and land borders are havens for criminal activity in smuggling and cargo theft. By tightening the portals to our country, we will also address associated transportation crime, drug smuggling and trade fraud, which costs this country billions of dollars each year. Clearly, implementation of mass screening programs for cargo will be expensive. There is, however, a clear benefit --- the reduction of smuggling and cargo theft that plagues this industry.
"The technology is available and demonstrated. The benefit is not only in restoring public trust, but also in hardening our borders and ports against terrorist acts. The shipping and cargo industry also stands to benefit greatly by the reduction in cargo crime, which is a huge drain on our economy and directly affects the pocketbooks of all Americans. I ask this committee to consider five recommendations:
1. Create a unified command for borders and seaports joining Border Patrol, Coast Guard and Customs for assuring cohesion in achieving security in the transportation sector. This command will require budget for substantial staffing to carry out this mission.
2. Commit bold funding for the deployment of non-intrusive inspection technologies at ports and borders with a long-term goal of 100% confirmation of the contents of containers. Inspection technologies should be integrated with information technology systems, video surveillance of container loading, and industry shipper participation in verification.
3. Give this "unified command" the right to site systems inside ports and at border crossings through eminent domain type procedures.
4. Fund additional R&D efforts to enhance the effectiveness and speed of these and new technologies to reduce the hassle factor on the transportation sector.
5. Sanitize ports and borders by instituting background checks on all personnel having routine access with the intent of weeding out criminal elements.
"On Sunday, Attorney General John Ashcroft warned of potential additional attacks. No one knows what is actually in sea containers arriving in our country. We are clueless as to the threats breaching the Canadian border. It is time to make strong and fundamental changes that will protect the integrity of our borders against committed terrorists." |
