Congress to Boost Security, Add Detectors at Ports (Update1)
2006-04-05 14:53 (New York)
(Adds Lieberman's comments in sixth paragraph.)
By Jeff Bliss
April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Congress is likely to approve
measures this year to tighten security at U.S. ports, including
requiring the installation of radiation and nuclear detectors,
lawmakers said.
Legislation being considered in both the Senate and House
would also ease customs inspections for importers such as
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's
largest retailer. In exchange, the companies would be required
to tighten the security of their shipments.
Congressional Republicans, reacting to election-year
political pressures, have put the bipartisan-sponsored measures
on a fast track for committee consideration and passage this
year. The $4 billion, five-year proposals had been languishing
in committee until last month's public outcry over the abortive
effort by a Dubai-owned company to take over terminal operations
at six major U.S. ports.
``If anything positive came out of Dubai ports, it was the
awakening of American people to just how important port security
is,'' House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, a New York
Republican, said during a Washington hearing yesterday. The
House legislation ``is a very significant step forward.''
Democrats, seeking to overcome Republicans' traditional
advantage with voters on defense and terrorism issues, last week
offered their own national security strategy, which embraces the
increased searches at ports that the legislation would mandate.
`Not Enough'
``Our government still has too little knowledge of the
contents of thousands of multi-ton containers,'' Joseph
Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, said today during a Senate
Homeland Security Committee hearing on port security. The Bush
administration's effort to bolster port security to date is
``not enough.''
Democratic Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and
Robert Menendez of New Jersey want Congress to pass a tougher
measure that would earmark an additional $1 billion for port
security and mandate the inspection of all cargo containers.
They are sponsoring legislation that would bar a foreign-owned
company from running terminal operations at U.S. ports.
The Democrats' push has introduced an element of
competition. ``The Republicans don't want to get beaten to the
punch on this,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, a homeland security
analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Democrats need to win six seats in the November elections
to capture the 100-seat Senate from Republicans and a gain of 17
seats to take control of the 435-member House.
Rating Slips
A March 16-17 Newsweek poll of registered voters suggested
support for Republicans has slipped. Fifty percent said they
would back Democratic candidates, compared with 39 percent who
supported Republicans. Bush's job performance rating stood at 36
percent, and 44 percent approved of his handling of homeland
security, down from 57 percent a year ago.
House and Senate committees are likely to consider the
port-security measures during the last week of this month. Both
versions of the legislation would enhance programs already
established by the Homeland Security Department.
A congressional audit released March 28 said that, at its
current pace, the department won't meet its goals for installing
monitors to screen cargo at all U.S. ports for nuclear weapons
and other radiological material.
Measures in both houses would require the department to
expand the data it puts into a computerized system used to
detect suspect cargo. A Senate report released on March 30 said
the system has ``significant flaws.''
Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson has said
the department is making improvements.
GreenLane Plan
Under the proposed measures, importers who agree to impose
their own stringent security could speed their shipments through
the customs process. The department would check within a year to
make sure participants in this program, which in the Senate
legislation is called GreenLane, have tight security over their
cargo.
The Senate report found that Customs authorities now spot-
check security on only one of a company's many shipment routes.
The department would need to develop guidelines for
securing containers, as well.
The legislation suggests increased spending for all these
initiatives through 2012. Overall, the legislation would boost
money for some existing programs by about 40 percent and create
new programs as well.
Incentives
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said that, while
department officials worry that some provisions duplicate their
efforts, they will work with Congress. ``We agree with the
concept that we should provide incentives to encourage security
practices that go beyond mandated law and regulation,'' he said.
Lawmakers, in their rush to pass legislation, must be
careful not to impose new standards and deadlines that will do
more harm than good, said Erik Autor, vice president of the
Washington-based National Retail Federation. ``I'm not sure
members have the time to think through these issues or want
to,'' he said.
Autor said he's concerned that both chambers' measures
would allow third-party firms, not U.S. Customs, to assess
whether companies are putting the tougher security in place.
``It provides no guidance whatsoever on who these third-party
validators would be,'' he said.
In addition, some countries such as China may not allow
Customs officials or a U.S.-based company to check security,
forcing the U.S. to use Chinese companies to do the validation.
The legislation could pass before ``some member of Congress
realizes we've outsourced our security to a foreign company,''
Autor said.
Trade Flow
Stephen Lamar, senior vice president of the American
Apparel and Footwear Association, based in Arlington, Virginia,
said the clothing industry lobbyist hasn't taken a position on
the legislation but would want any measure not to impede trade.
``We have concerns when people are rushing to do things
that aren't grounded in the balance of making commerce secure
and making commerce flow,'' he said.
James Carafano, a national security analyst with the
Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said he worries the
legislation might lull Americans into a false sense of security.
The legislation would do little to protect against land-
based attacks on ports and is too focused on preventing nuclear
weapons from entering U.S. harbors, he said. Terrorists probably
won't send such a valuable asset as a nuclear bomb through the
shipping system, Carafano said.
