The Gaping Maws of Seaport Security

Security fences?  Check.

Closed-circuit camera grid?  Check.

Nationwide cargo data-crunching system?  Check.

Checking for a dude in the passenger seat?  Um...

Ever since terrorists toppled the World Trade Center towers, U.S. seaports have been preparing for an attack.
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But ports appear to have left at least one gaping hole in their security — a hole so big you could ride a truck through.

We did, several times.

Simply by riding along with truck drivers coming to drop off and pick up cargo, this reporter easily penetrated the security of ports in Los Angeles-Long Beach and Seattle, two of the nation's largest port complexes.

In the only instance where identification was sought, flashing an expired driver's license was all it took before a uniformed guard waved us through the gate.

Past that point, we had access to secure areas where cargo ships tie up under giant cranes and where thousands of containers move into and out of the United States.

Beyond cursory driver and rider checks and failing to inspect the sleeping compartments of entering trucks, a robust system of port security also requires adequate control of "empty" containers entering from the land side.

Longshore clerks used to open containers to check for stolen cars or stowaways. But today, they work from an office, using video cameras and scales that weigh the trucks as they roll through the gate.

Clerks say the weight can vary by up to 5,000 pounds before it raises eyebrows. "You figure you're going to have a thousand of these tonight, why stop this one?" said a clerk who asked that his full name not be used.

Terrorists could pack explosives in a container and bring it in as an empty, said Mitre, the Longshore security director.

"It's easy to lose 1,000 to 2,000 pounds in a container of that weight," he said. "You'll never know there's something in it."

So who's to blame for the apparent serious lapses in security and whose responsibility is it to shore it up?  Pay close attention to this Three Card Monte-style buck passing.

Let's start with the port officials:

"If the terminal manager is satisfied that this person is OK to be on the port, that's the standard," said George Cummings, director of security at the Port of Los Angeles.
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Port officials also say they lack funds to do much more for security, especially compared with what has been spent on airports.

Terminal managers/operators?

A spokesman for the operator that runs both Seattle's Terminal 18 and Pacific Container Terminal in Long Beach said he didn't know what more it could do.

"We're doing exactly what's prescribed by the Coast Guard," said Bob Watters, vice president at SSA Marine.

Coast Guard?

Stephen Metruck, the Coast Guard captain in charge of Puget Sound, said that within the agency, "we pay enough attention" to land-side security. For instance, the Coast Guard spot-checks whether terminal operators are complying with their security plans.

Terminal managers/operators?

"[The Port of Los Angeles terminal manager's] check is only as good as a California driver's license or a government-issued photo ID."

Gummint?

In April, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was moving ahead with a plug for the hole: a new identity card that uses fingerprint readers to verify a driver's identity. It is scheduled to be issued to 850,000 workers over the next two years.

But some say the required criminal background and immigration checks, combined with high driver turnover, will create a labor shortage that snarls the flow of goods into the United States.

Ah, it's a simple matter of immigration and labor policy.  Well that should be easy enough to resolve.