Post Security Bill Affects Coast Guard
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2002–The Coast Guard’s responsibilities will be transformed under the Maritime Transportation Antiterrorism Act of 2002, which aims to increase port security duties of Coast Guard units across the country.
Coast Guard units in Massachusetts do not yet know how their responsibilities will change. “It’s going to be a while before we know the civic implications,” said Andrew Shinn, public affairs specialist for the First Coast Guard District in Boston.
The legislation, approved last week, integrates federal, state, local and private law enforcement agencies to oversee security at U.S. seaports. The Coast Guard will be responsible for coordinating the national security efforts of these agencies and developing plans to ensure the maximum level of transportation safety at the nation’s 361 ports.
The landmark law also authorizes $5.9 billion for Coast Guard operations in the current fiscal year and increases the number of active-duty Coast Guard personnel to 45,500, up from about 35,500.
The bill had been stuck in a House-Senate conference committee since June over a debate on how to finance the bill. It finally passed without any funding source, and it will be up to President Bush to submit a detailed funding proposal to Congress within six months after signing the bill.
Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem) supports the new law’s intent but says the Coast Guard will have trouble performing its new security responsibilities until the authorized funds are provided.
“The Coast Guard has lots of other functions [like enforcing boat safety and fishing regulations], and we need to know they are going to have the funding and the people capacity in order to expand on the other requirements that have been put on them,” Tierney said.
Tierney criticized the Bush administration’s push to pass homeland security measures without any proposals for paying for them.
“They passed a homeland security bill, but they don’t put any money in it,” Tierney said. “I think the act itself certainly gives some opportunities, but most of the opportunities come with a price tag.”
Passage of the bill preceded this week’s approval of legislation to create a new Department of Homeland Security, which would move 170,000 employees from 22 existing government agencies-including the Coast Guard-into a single department dedicated to domestic security. It will be the largest governmental reorganization since 1947.
Coast Guard policy does not allow spokespersons to comment specifically on security efforts or pending federal legislation, but local Coast Guard officials said that the promise of more money and personnel would improve their security efforts.
“We look forward to going more to homeland security,” Gloucester Coast Guard spokesman Brian Henry said. “Everything revolves around money, and hopefully that will increase our budget and provide a better service to the community.”
In a report the General Accounting Office submitted to Congress at the beginning of this month, officials from the First Coast Guard District reported that increased hours their personnel spent on security operations from Sept. 11, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2002, created $400,000 in unforeseen maintenance expenditures.
Dave Cornell, a spokesperson for the Newburyport Coast Guard unit, would not comment on how the legislation would affect his staff of 24. Cornell said all questions had to be directed to the public affairs office of the First Coast Guard District.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, all First District units have become “multi-mission capable”-able to conduct a wider variety of operations–in order to conduct homeland security operations, and the new law is designed to further improve the Coast Guard’s ability to protect Massachusetts’s ports.
The legislation also includes the Port Threat and Security Act, co-sponsored by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). It requires the Coast Guard to report annually to Congress on foreign vessels that pose a risk to U.S. ports and establishes a sea marshal program that allows armed personnel to board ships entering U.S. ports in order to deter hijackings and other terrorist threats.
Kerry, as chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s Oceans, Fisheries, and Atmosphere Subcommittee, helped oversee hearings on the Coast Guard’s role in improving maritime security after the attacks of Sept. 11.
Speaking on the Senate floor last week, Kerry said that he recognized the unique homeland defense responsibilities of the Coast Guard and that the additional funds and resources the new law authorizes were long overdue.
“It is vitally important that we adequately fund and staff all of the missions of the Coast Guard,” Kerry said. “This legislation, while not as generous as many of us would like, is a step in the right direction.”
The bill also authorizes $725 million in this fiscal year for acquisition, construction, and improvement of equipment and facilities. Most of the money will be used to modernize the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program, which focuses on improving command and control capabilities in deep-water environments.
It also requires the Coast Guard to work with the Department of Transportation and the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) to perform maritime security measures like conducting background checks of port employees and issuing transportation security identification cards
“Passage of this legislation is a major step in establishing a framework for ports and others in the maritime industry…to protect America’s homeland,” AAPA president Kurt Nagle said in a Nov. 15 statement. “AAPA looks forward to working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard as it takes on the responsibility for implementing much of the act.”
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, in Massachusetts.
