Posted on 06/14/2002 9:48:15 AM PDT by Robert357
WASHINGTON -- Foreign flag vessels, many of shadowy origins, now account for 90 percent of shipping into and out of the United States and could pose a security risk to the country, lawmakers were told Thursday.
Of greatest concern is the "flag of convenience" system where ship owners often have no connection to the country under which their ship is registered, witnesses told a House Armed Services Committee panel.
This system, said William Schubert, maritime administrator with the Transportation Department, "can inadvertently open the door for criminal and terrorist activity that would be impossible under the U.S. flag registry."
"From my review of certain registries," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the panel, "it is apparent that we have virtually no idea who owns, or who controls a number of these ships."
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., singled out Liberia, citing U.N. reports that revenues from its flag registry were channeled to a Russian arms dealer with ties to the Taliban and al-Qaida. Without guarantees that those revenues are transparent and serve the needs of the Liberian people, the registry should be shut down, he said.
Ship operators in the United States and other developed countries have long registered their vessels in countries that offer lower fees, less restrictive laws, lower taxes and cheaper crews.
Liberia has hosted a U.S.-based shipping registry since 1949 and now ranks second to Panama in total shipping tonnage in U.S. ports. One-third of imported oil arrives on Liberian-flagged tankers.
The system brings in about $18 million a year for Liberia's war-torn government and its former warlord leader Charles Taylor.
Beyond Liberia, Rear Adm. Paul Pluta, assistant commandant for the Coast Guard, cited reports that Osama bin Laden covertly owns a shipping fleet and used a cargo ship in 1998 used to deliver supplies used in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Karina A, a ship seized by the Israeli navy last January with a cargo of 50 tons of weapons headed for the Palestinian Authority, was owned by an Iraqi and flew the flag of Tonga under a registry run by a Greek company.
Schubert said pre-screening of crew is one way of reducing threats. But he also suggested that market and financial incentives be offered to make the U.S. flag more attractive to U.S. investors. "There is no better assurance to our nation's security interests than a strong U.S.-flag merchant marine," he said.
The BS meter is starting to rise.
Let's say it takes 5 minutes to run a container through a $1M x-ray machine and evaluate the images. That means 250,000 machine-minutes per day for 50,000 containers, or about 4167 hours. If you had 1000 machines at a cost of $1B, that would be 4.2 hours per machine per day - leaving enough slack to account for fluctuations in traffic through our ports. Let's double the number of machines to account for multiple transport modes (truck, rail, etc.) that might need specialized machines or multiple locations in a port - that makes $2B. That's still 1/7th the cost of the airline bailout. Similar math shows the airlines could in fact be examining all checked baggage, and that the cost would easily be covered by the new "security fee" which is going God knows where.
Now to finance this: $25 per container yields $1,250,000/day for 20 working days per month or $25,000,000/month. What does long term govt. debt cost these days?
Yes and they are setting up 4 swat-like fast response teams one of which is going to be in Seattle.
I don't think that boats could be tied up at docks like that. Anchored maybe, but not tied up at the docks. A long time ago, I helped put myself through college by longshoring during the summer as a casual card member of ILWU. Longshoremen may be a lot of things, but they use to be very curious about cargo and about what was aboard ships. Also pilots who bring the ships into the harbor like to know what they are guiding into port. I do think that the article I saw about Coast Guard teams of explosive sniffing dogs and seamen being lowered by wire onto ships prior to entering harbors, is tip off and comfort.
How would we stop such an attack, without advanced knowledge of it, or credible leads that might lead us to scrutinizing such areas enough that the would-be attacker gets caught in the dragnet.
I'm just curious about the feasibility of actually bringing in dirty bomb materials, or C4 for a bridge attack, or a fertilizer-based bomb like that used in the OKC bombing. Or even large quantities of weapons-grade anthrax, stored in a rusty, innocuous looking drum.
The scenarios are endless, it all comes down to plausibility.
I understand your concern...It is a matter of procedures but I feel confident we can overcome it.The motion for the Republic to commission a Grand Army takes precedent...in order for Congress to pass a Declaration of War!It is quite safe from Bin Laden's pitiful little band,an Entire Legion of My Best Troops awaits them...
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