Features

Port Security Challenges

Steps Pacific ports are taking to meet security requirements

By Richard Knee

Proof-of-identity mandates that the U.S. government has established for transportation workers are reportedly adding to the burdens of West Coast port authorities.

The Transportation Worker Identity Credential, or TWIC, program imposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) raised worries at Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s busiest container ports, where as many as 20 percent of the truck and drayage drivers might lose their jobs because they are in this country illegally.

Ports all along the coast are trying to figure out how best to implement the program, and officials overseeing British Columbia’s ports are meanwhile ramping up their security efforts as Vancouver prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

For some ports, moreover, there’s the continuous security challenge that comes from sheer size. “Our biggest challenge is managing 3,000 acres, 35 miles of waterfront, and the many public roadways going through the port,” says Lee Peterson, a spokesman at the Port of Long Beach.

In addition, at least one port authority, Portland, has had to deal with metal theft.

Tackling Multiple Risks

“Ports continue to face a wide variety of security challenges, which range from traditional theft and vandalism to the new and ever changing threat of terrorist activity,” said John MacIntyre, homeland security program manager at the Port of San Diego.

“These threats span everything from a lone, independent zealot to an international terrorist organization. Since threats can emerge from any one of these sources, security plans must be flexible enough to adapt while all the time allowing port activity to take place with as little interruption as possible,” says MacIntyre. “Without completely shutting down a port, there is no way to guarantee complete security. But through partnerships and ever improving cross jurisdiction, cross agency communication, and security collaboration, a port’s security posture can be significantly improved.”

TWIC Impact

While the TWIC program is under DHS oversight, port authorities and other entities at the state, regional, and local levels are heavily involved in making it work at the nuts-and-bolts level.

“TWIC is the biggest challenge at the moment,” says Ed Madura, facility security officer at the Port of Everett, Wash. “Having people with federal ID cards was a great idea, but the implementation is something else. The processing of the cards will be a challenge; the way the cards are set up, the only way to access the information on the card is to use the PIN (personal identification number) of the holder.

“We are looking at readers that will be able to read not only the TWIC but other forms of ID,” he says. “With the enforcement dates coming up soon and only limited readers approved for use, we may end up being forced to spend money on equipment that only meets a portion of our needs.”

Madura adds, “Getting the equipment, installing it, and having it up and running will not happen by the enforcement date. We will be using the cards solely as a picture ID and to verify that people have a TWIC. Dock workers and port employees had little issue with getting the cards, but public utilities, city employees, the railroads, and a whole host of others that have regular business at the port have been having issues with getting the cards.”

Port of Everett spokeswoman Lisa Mandt says, “Over a year ago, we began to provide to all our visitors, vendors, contractors, and service providers information on how and where to obtain the TWIC card.” She estimates more than 90 percent of those needing cards have obtained them.

At Long Beach, “we’re not administering (TWIC), but many of our workers here are getting signed up,” Peterson says. “We’ve made it possible for the federal government to open a TWIC center here. People can go in, park their trucks, and easily access their TWIC cards.”

Metal Theft

The Port of Portland has experienced “some criminal activity at Terminal 4 related to metal theft,” says Port of Portland spokesman Josh Thomas. “The activity has been focused on electrical wire stripping and theft from predominantly dormant areas of the terminal.”

Thomas says last March, a Marine Security Officer “suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his leg while patrolling under a dock at the facility.” Although it was undetermined if it was related to wire theft, the port increased staffing and lighting and conducted a thorough review of the incident. There have been no new cases since.

Regional Plans

Regarding the macro picture, Seattle port spokesman Mick Shultz notes that the U.S. Coast Guard patrols an area all along the Washington coast, as well as the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, monitoring three naval installations, cargo vessels, cruise ships, and “tens of thousands of recreational boats and thousands of commercial fishing vessels, many of which cross the international border with Canada.”

A draft “regional risk analysis” developed by Washington’s port authorities, the state government, and private partners has been submitted to the DHS. Once a final version is approved, the document “will tell us our (security) priorities — where we’ll make our expenditures over the next few years,” Shultz says.

Similarly, in San Diego, “there is greater emphasis on regional interaction and communication,” MacIntyre says. “This may take the form of a regional communication system, as being applied here in San Diego, or a Joint Harbor Operations Center, also in operation here, and/or a regional terrorist threat assessment center. Most large municipalities have a Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is a joint law enforcement task force where intelligence specialists from participating agencies work side by side to receive and analyze the various intelligence products available through both open source and classified means.”

Canadian Safeguards

A transportation worker background check being implemented as part of Canada’s International Ship Port Security program is being challenged by longshore unions concerned about how personal data will be used, says Chris Badger, chief operating officer of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA), which oversees the ports of Vancouver, Fraser River, and North Fraser. As of early September, the matter was before the Upper Court, Canada’s counterpart to the U.S. Supreme Court, he says.
The background check issue does not involve illegal immigration concerns in Canada as it does in the U.S., he says. Those who do not go through the process are not permitted into restricted areas at the ports, he says.

On another front, the VFPA-administered ports are focusing on bringing in systems to detect biological and chemical agents.

And so it goes — ports continuing to maximize security while minimizing disruptions to cargo and passenger traffic flows.