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To: H James Morris who wrote (170169)	7/15/2002 12:52:53 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 176387

The Hole in Our Defense By BOB HERBERT Editorial / Op-Ed The New York Times July 15, 2002 Security at the nation's airports has understandably gotten tremendous attention since Sept. 11. Now we need a much stronger focus on security at the seaports, where cargo comes and goes by the billions of tons annually. The seaports are the gaping hole in the nation's defense against terrorism. There are 185 deep-water ports in the United States and most are poorly protected. Experts believe they could well provide the staging area for the most devastating terror attacks. "If I were a terrorist," said Senator John Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat, "I wouldn't be targeting an airline next. I'd be targeting a port, where you could do significant damage. One container can carry 60,000 pounds of explosives, and there may be 3,000 containers aboard a ship." More frightening is the threat of weapons of mass destruction, including the possibility of a crude nuclear device, being smuggled into the U.S. In an interview last week, Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said, "This is probably the greatest danger we face." Huge metal cargo containers are moved through the nation's ports in volumes that are dizzying. About 600,000 arrive in the U.S. each day. In most cases it's impossible for authorities to know for sure what's in the containers. In contrast to airports, where passengers and cargo are pretty thoroughly scrutinized, only about 2 percent of the seaport cargo is closely inspected. Not nearly enough attention is being paid to this tailor-made delivery system for terrorists with mass destruction in mind. The potential for tragedy was made extremely clear last October when an Egyptian-born Canadian citizen, Amir Farid Rizk, was arrested by Italian authorities after he was found hiding in a container aboard a U.S.-bound ship. Mr. Rizk had made himself quite comfortable. The container was outfitted with a bed, a toilet and a heater. And Mr. Rizk had a satellite phone, a laptop computer and maps of North American airports in his possession. Senator Schumer said his biggest concern is the possibility that a nuclear weapon or a so-called dirty bomb will be brought into the United States in one of these containers. There is no evidence that terrorists have managed to get their hands on the fissile material necessary to construct a nuclear weapon, but there is no doubt they're trying. A dirty bomb, in which radioactive material is dispersed by a conventional explosive, is not nearly as difficult to build. Under present conditions, either type of weapon is "easy to get into the country," said Senator Schumer. There are high-tech sensors already in use in laboratory settings that, if properly developed and deployed, would make it much easier to detect nuclear material inside shipboard containers. Senator Schumer and Senator John Warner, a Virginia Republican, have come up with a bill that would provide the funding necessary to make it practical to use such sensors at seaports. Senator Schumer said it would cost about $250 million to complete the development of the sensors and an additional $750 million to deploy them. Whether the legislation gets passed and the funding appropriated remains to be seen. Dr. Ralph James, an associate director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, which has been working on the sensors, said they could be made to operate well in a seaport setting in a relatively short period of time. "These sensor technologies would give us the capability to discern more minute quantities of radioactive materials," he said, "which is very important in terms of trying to detect nuclear smuggling." Dr. James is leading the counterterrorism efforts at Brookhaven. He said the laboratory is also developing portable "smart sensor packs" that would "allow us to track the contents of a cargo container" through its entire voyage. If dangerous material were detected at any time, the information would be relayed to authorities by wireless communication technology. That could enable authorities to detect one of these terrible weapons before it ever made it to a U.S. port. There is a daunting amount of work still to be done to make the seaports safer. And there is probably not a lot of time in which to do it. As Len Cross, a former F.B.I. agent who is an expert on maritime security, told me on Friday, "I think the clock is ticking right now." nytimes.com