[Travis McGee]

The Customs Service says it can inspect only 2 percent of the 600,000 cargo containers that enter seaports each a day on more than 500 ships. Of the 2 percent, many are not inspected until they reach their final destination, sometimes on the opposite coast, where they travel unguarded by rail, barge and truck.

Just fill the 40' containers up with tons and tons of ANFO, and put a GPS detonator on it. Or make 100 container bombs, put them on 50 ships, and set them to all detonate the same minute, sinking many large container ships at sea, and wrecking many container ports or railyards, depending on where the boxes were when they went off. If the intent is to wreck our trade and econoomy.....

[patent]

More fun. Thanks for the bump.

[dennisw]

and set them to all detonate the same minute,

Al Queda likes multiple strikes done simultaneously. United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania (1997) done at the same minute. Same plan for the 911-2001 attacks.

[Jeff Head]

We haven't gotten serious yet.

I am afraid we're going to have to lose a lot more before we do ... and I pray I am wrong.

As you know, in Dragon's Fury - Breath of Fire container ships are one of the chief means that we suffer so badly at the outset of that fictional war.

Mind your knot.

[harpseal]

An even simpler means of causing massive devastation is merely put an incendiary device aboard a freighter or bulk carrier hauling amonium nitrate (even without the fuel oil) and you have a Texas City type blast. This article did not even mention the security in the Port of New York which being busier has even less effective security. As far as the security of the docks in Portland, Me. or any other Northeast Port it is non existant. There is no way that any ship in these ports can be protected from underwater attack. There is no way a USS Cole type attack could be twarted. There is no way a an auto piloted 20 footer loaded with HE could be stopped in these harbors. In short the terrorists do not even need to become martyrs to accomplish their tasks in such a scenario.

Clearly until and unless we become very serious about protecting our nation from attack we are very vulnerable.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[Don Myers]

We are a nation at peace in our homeland and engaged in a war overseas. We do not have warlike procedures set up for our home front. There are gaping holes in our security. It will take time to plug up those gaps. It will also take a nation of people who are dedicated to the war.