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Security article:
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&guid=%7B973AD....

Paying the bill stalls port security upgrades

U.S. Chamber sees no strategy emerging from Washington
Last Update: 5:55 PM ET Apr 26, 2006


WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- While acknowledging "there is no single silver bullet" to the daunting problem of guarding America's ports, the government is pursuing new technology to protect the nation.
But some business leaders complain there is no clear strategy, and they are concerned about who is going to pay the bill.
Michael Jackson, an undersecretary in the Department of Homeland Security, Tuesday outlined the government's plans to enhance port security at a conference at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.
By summer's end, more than 400,000 port workers will be matched against the terrorist watch lists as the first major step to tighten port security, Jackson said. Ultimately, by year's end, all 750,000 workers with unrestricted access to ports will need tamper-free identification cards.
But with the government planning to spend hundreds of millions for new technology to safeguard U.S. ports, some businesses wonder about the risks and benefits of the new tools.
"We are waiting for the government to lay out a well-understood research and development strategy for the next generation of technology," U.S. Chamber vice president Andrew Howell said in a telephone interview after the conference.
Besides security checks for workers, Homeland Security wants a "new generation of tools" to detect nuclear materials and to better screen all inbound cargo.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, showed off new radiation monitors that would be used to inspect some of the 11 million cargo containers entering the United States daily.
Two of the machines were on display at news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
King and other government officials lavishly praised the new technology.
Already, 214 monitors are in place, screening more than half the cargo entering U.S. ports for radiation, officials said. By the end of next year, they said, 621 monitors will be installed capable of screening 98 percent of incoming shipments.
"Radiation portal monitors are...allowing highly trained [Customers and Border Protection] officers to better deter, detect and defend Americans from a potential terror attack," said Jayson Ahern, a Customs official.
Jackson said there will be enough money in the budget to purchase and install the monitors.
Ahern acknowledged that an unanswered question is whether the technology would increase or decrease port capacity. Howell wondered how much future technological advances would cost and who would pay for them.
And that won't be clear, Howell said, until a definitive strategy for port protection is in place. "We need to sit down and establish priorities," he said.
Who's going to pay?
While Homeland Security will pay for the new radiation monitors and other port safety measures, Jackson said the government is looking at the inspection system in Hong Kong harbor as a possible model.
There, Jackson said, the private sector voluntarily established a user-fee system to cover the costs of screening and equipment. "We need to drive up our capacity to screen and profile at a much more sophisticated level," he said. "For this we need the cooperation of the private sector."
"It might be a fee-based deal with the industry," Jackson added, without giving a clear time frame. "I think we'll do something in the not-too-distant future. This is a policy issue that needs some discussion."