5 Essay Questions
jwiter
week_7_forum.docx|
a) The SMART Port Security Legislation. The SMART Port Security Act was passed on 6 June 2012 by Homeland Security Committee. The Act was passed to secure our nations. The main focus of this Act was to make sure that cargo is coming through our ports. A major disruption at one of the ports can cripple the global supply chain and could cause tremendous damage to our economy. The SMART Port Security emphasized a stronger collaboration between the United States Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection in sharing port security duties. b) The SAFE Port Act. The SAFE Port Act lays down the foundation on how the port operates, equips and trains. The act made numbers of adjustments to programs that are already in effect and altered others. With this Act, private facilities and federal agencies joined forces to improve security at roughly 3,000 facilities by writing specific guides and inspecting facilities to make sure they are in compliance. To prevent terrorism, they also created special identification cards for workers so others without cards won’t get access to secure areas. Federal agencies have improved overall port security efforts by establishing committees to share information with local port stakeholders and established operation centers to monitor port activities. c) The Small Vessel Security Strategy? The Small Vessel Security focuses on the possibility of small vessels being used as a threat to United States. There is a possibility that small vessels might be used as a way to transport terrorists and weapons of mass destruction to commit different terrorist acts. The overall goals of the Small Vessel Strategy are to enhance maritime security and safety, use public and private sectors to increase awareness, use technology to detect small vessels that pose a maritime security threat, and last of all cooperation among international, federal, state, local agencies. |
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Timothy Golden
(Nov 20, 2014 5:30 PM) - Read by: 7 Justin, The further along I read through this class and other homeland security classes, it seems as if the Coast Guard and the Customs and Border Protection are at odds with each other similar to the FBI and the CIA. However, I do feel as if it takes multiple agencies and multiple layers in order to truly provide security for the United States. In regards to the SAFE Port Act, one thing that is a tall and difficult order is that it calls for 100 percent scanning on all cargo that comes through a high-volume port. As the legislation also calls for increased personnel, training, equipment and research and technology this is still a very difficult task to accomplish. On top of not only the difficulty of such a task, the amount of resources needed to accomplish this is astronomically high. A measure such as this, until a technology can catch up to reduce the amount personnel, almost seems unsustainable just due to cost alone. However, I do believe that increased agency cooperation will greatly assist the security efforts. Have a good weekend Justin! -Tim |
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Stephen Grout
(Nov 23, 2014 5:56 PM) - Read by: 6 Hi Justin, You hit the nail on the head when you mention that an attack on a major seaport would cripple the US economy. One of the critical pieces of legislation that addresses this is the Container Security Initiative implemented in 2002 immediately after 9/11. A sort of defense in depth, we have given aid and assistance to other countries to screen, analyze or inspect a large number of containers at the point of departure rather than strain our limited resources here in the US. This has helped to identify low risk containers inbound and process those more efficiently once they hit the mainland. As you can imagine, trying to inspect 11+ million containers that pass through major US ports every year is an impossible task. We do however have the framework in place to mitigate the risk with the legislation passed since 9/11 and discussed this week. Technology has greatly improved as well. We now have machines that can scan entire containers with IR/Thermal or X-ray technology in a matter of minutes as opposed to physical inspections which could take hours. V/R Steve |
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Scott Lambert
(Nov 25, 2014 6:38 PM) - Read by: 3 Justin, Hello. The more that I have read and the Safe Port Act, the more I feel it is helping. By them instituting the ID card system for the port employees and cards for the transit drivers (in and out), that is a great way to identify possible terrorists and refuse them entry. The companies should be doing background checks before anyone is issued an ID card. Also, the fact that this Act brings together the Federal government and the private sector port operators, makes the operators take a greater stake in keep their ports safe. As you stated, one small incident could cripple a port on a major level. This is something that could take weeks or months to get back to normal. The small Vessel Strategy also brings together the government and private sector to create a partnership in securing the waterways. These smaller vessels had long been overlooked as a possible way to smuggle terrorists, weapons and their other supplies into and around the country. Thank you for your insight. Scott |
