I'll translate more if people want more translated from this Cuba stuff (or the site it came from that Honestly's article posted) if you guys want...but if it doesn't seem pertinent I won't spend the time on it...so let me know thumbs up or down!
June 23, 2004, 9:11PM
PORT SECURITY
Not easy to balance global trade against global terror
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, much of the nation's anti-terrorism efforts have been focused on preventing new plane hijackings. Nearly three years later, security measures are finally coming to another point of vulnerability: the nation's seaports.
Living in proximity to the Port of Houston, Houston-area residents have known long before 9/11 of the need to secure the nation's maritime shipping lanes. Security experts made it clear that little prevents a suicide bomber from steering a vessel right into port or along the Ship Channel and setting off explosives or detonating a chemical or biological weapon.
A breach could close the port, kill large numbers of people and create economic and environmental disaster.
On July 1, new federal anti-terror rules aimed at preventing such horror are set to take effect at approximately 3,000 U.S. terminals and other port facilities. After that date, every tanker, container ship or other foreign-flagged vessel will have to be certified by its flag country that it has met security guidelines established by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization. No foreign vessel without a certificate will be permitted entry at a U.S. port.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in Houston on Wednesday he expects most ships and every U.S. seaport will meet the July 1 deadline for a host of new security procedures.
But, as a June 20 Chronicle report on stepped-up security at the Port of Houston made clear, those efforts must be thorough enough to detect and thwart terrorism, but carried out efficiently enough to maintain the free flow of commerce.
The fact that Liberia, Panama and Cyprus are popular with many shippers as states of registration offers one reason for anxiety. Certificates of security from governments such as these shouldn't be expected to bolster Americans' confidence that domestic shipping lanes are well-protected from terrorist sabotage.
Energy industry shippers have expressed a different concern: that the new regulations could hinder tankers delivering oil just as additional supplies are being deployed to satisfy U.S. market demand. Consumers and businesses could see new spikes in prices at the gas pump if missing certification or confusion and red tape delay oil tankers' entry into the Port of Houston and other docks.
That's good early news. Nearly 177.6 million tons of goods ship through the Port of Houston annually, and the majority of vessels carrying these loads are foreign flagged. It will be a massive undertaking to weave a security net tight enough to keep terrorists out, but flexible enough not to strangle the commerce we want to protect.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/2644245
Please, as your time permits, continue with these Cuba articles.
They will tie in to the test sites here.
The things they invent will be/or/ have shown up in the United States.
Thank you,