Feinstein seeks more money to secure nation's largest port

Sacramento Bee ^ | 12/19/02 | Nada Saway

[hoosierskypilot]

LOS ANGELES(AP) - Calling seaports the "soft underbelly" for potential terrorist infiltration, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she's seeking more funding to improve security at the nation's largest port complex. Feinstein, D-Calif., met Wednesday with Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn and representatives of federal law enforcement at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex to call for more funding for security measures.

"Our ports ... really are the ports of the United States," Hahn said. "(We're) fighting for California to get its fair share of federal funds."

The two Southern California ports receive about 4.5 million cargo containers each year, about 43 percent of the nation's container cargo traffic. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the complex received only $6.7 million out of the $73 million in recent federal funding allocated for U.S. seaports.

Feinsten said there have been concerns that U.S. ports are susceptible to terrorist infiltration, including weapons threats.

[hoosierskypilot]

Funny, but I'd think with her leftist politics, she'd be inviting more terrorists in via cultural diversity.

[hoosierskypilot]

She kind of reminds me of a guy I saw in San Fran, once.

[sonofatpatcher2]

Geezs, I would have thought she would have wanted it sold to Red China like her a--hole bud, SlickWillie did with Long Beach.

[Vigilanteman]

Actually, I could support this measure-- to be paid for by a hefty duty on every container coming in from an anti-American country starting, of course, with Communist China. Containers loaded in allied nations with reliable security (Japan) would be exempt, those loaded in neutral nations (Philippines) would be light and those loaded in hostile nations would be enough to make the program free of charge to the American taxpayers or even revenue generating.

[jimtorr]

I like your thinking. Pay for security with duties on foreign imports. That's what the constitution provides for, as well.