Undermining America

95 percent of all non-North American U.S trade moves by sea and arrives in 361 ports around the nation. [Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)] The Coast guard has admitted that ships can be used to transport terrorists or WMDs, and said, "We think it is important to publicly recognize how vulnerable seaports are." [NY Times 3/5/02] A recent closure of the ports on the West Coast, which receive 43 percent of maritime container to the US, showed that the cost to the economy of just these ports was about $1 billion a day for the first five days, rising more after that. [CFR]

In 2002, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs Service said, "There is virtually no security for what is the primary system to transport global trade." [CFR] Customs and border officials estimate that less than 10 percent of the millions of containers that flow through ports are opened by hand or examined by X-ray. [NY Times 9/14/03] In 2003, ABC News was able to ship depleted uranium through a West Coast port, in a test of U.S. port security. [Washington Post 9/11/03] A consulting firm, which conducted a war game with bombs traveling through ports and exploding in Chicago, found that even if the National Guard worked nonstop inspecting ships as a result of such an emergency, it could go through only 20 percent of them with the technology available at ports. [NY Times 9/14/03]

In late 2002, "the Coast Guard released a study on the security requirements of every major U.S. port, concluding that they need $ 1 billion in the first year and $ 500 million annually for the next nine years," according to the Washington Post." [Washington Post 1/24/03] "The American Association of Port Authorities estimates the cost of adequate physical security at the nation’s commercial seaports to be $2 billion," according to the Council on Foreign Relations. [CFR]

According to the American Association of Port Authorities, Bush’s proposed FY05 budget provides no federal funds to meet port facility security requirements. [AAPA] "Congressional aides said a $125 million port security account in the 2004 budget had been eliminated, despite the administration's acknowledgment in a foreword to the budget that ‘port security is a top priority of the Department of Homeland Security,’" according to the Washington Post. [Washington Post 2/5/04] A top Bush counterterrorism adviser who resigned because of Bush policies, said there has been little, if any, follow-through on port security. [Washington Post 6/16/03]