Coast Guard: 'stretched thin'

The U.S. Coast Guard's ability to protect our coasts and ports came under the microscope recently at a hearing convened by the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. The committee heard from 9/11 Commission members John Lehman and Jamie Gorelick.

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"The 9/11 Commission's report states that ports and maritime transportation industries may be particularly vulnerable to a future terrorist attack," said subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo. As if to underscore that statement. Lehman, a former Secretary of the Navy, told the committee that, "90% of Homeland Security dollars are spent on aviation security, leaving only 10% for all other transportation programs."

He said that the Coast Guard was "stretched thin" and could use some help from the Navy, which has approximately 30% of its ships and aircraft in training along our coasts all the time. "These active and reserve assets could be used by Homeland Security to help protect our ports and 95,000 miles of coastlines from terrorist attacks," he said.

Coast Guard Response

Testifying on behalf of the Coast Guard were Director of Port Security, Rear Admiral Larry Hereth and Assistant Commandant for Intelligence James Sloan. "We are particularly concerned about the threat from small vessels like the one that damaged the USS Cole and we need to track their potential use by terrorists," said Hereth. The admiral noted that the Coast Guard was planning to amend the ship-reporting threshold to require notifications from ships of less than 300 gross tons, although he didn't say how low the threshold might go or whether it would involve recreational boaters.

Independent Assessment

"There remains a serious lack of balance in our investment in protecting the maritime transportation sector," said maritime analyst and retired Coast Guard officer Stephen Flynn of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Since 9/11, Congress has provided only $516 million towards the $5.6 billion that the Coast Guard estimates U.S. ports need to make them minimally secure."

Flynn pointed to the fact that the Coast Guard, only slightly larger than the New York Police Department, bears the burden of being America's first line of defense for over 3 million square miles of water adjacent to our maritime borders, but lacks sufficient funding for these operations and for its Deepwater modernization program. "Of the funds allocated to protecting port facilities, 70% goes to protecting military facilities leaving only the rest to secure commercial ports," he said. Flynn believes that the terrorists could target a commercial port like Long Beach, CA, rather than the Navy base in San Diego. This could cripple California's economy and have a more devastating effect than damaging a few warships.

Information Sharing

BoatU.S. wrote to the commandant of the Coast Guard last summer expressing concern over their lack of communication about homeland security information to the recreational boating community. In response to that letter, Admiral Hereth said, "In the near future, we will be leveraging emergent Internet portal technology to provide customized maritime safety and security services to the public."

Hereth recently held a meeting to discuss that issue with over 200 port operators, facility owners and trade associations. "We are working to improve our information sharing process by speeding up the flow of threat data to the groups that need it for their protection. We want to make sure that this process is a two-way street so that we also receive information on terrorist activities as well," he said.

He went on to explain that the "America's Waterway Watch" program is the best way to report suspicious activity and that 1-877-24-WATCH is the telephone number that should be used by the recreational boating community for that purpose. "We need everyone's efforts to defeat terrorism on our waterways," he said.

"Rapid dissemination of sensitive information is key to stopping a terrorist attack," said the admiral. To reach that goal, the Coast Guard has been given permission by the Dept. of Homeland Security to give over 600 clearances to state, local and industry leaders to view classified information.

To view that information, the Coast Guard is creating a new Web site called "Homeport"--hoping to unveil it by the end of the year. The site will provide general threat-level information to everyone, but sensitive information will be given to selected members of the maritime community on a restricted portal that will require a password for access.

"Restricted viewers will be able to customize Homeport information so that they will be able to see threat information specific to their port area," said LT Joseph Masterson, the Coast Guard Web designer. "Homeport will eventually replace the Captain of the Ports' Web sites," he said. Masterson agreed with BoatU.S. that most of these sites lack current information and are difficult to navigate. "Homeport will correct that problem with a dedicated IT staff where information will be kept up-to-date," he added.

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