Comprehensive Port Security Plan

Today, we call on President Bush and Members of Congress to support Oz Bengur's Comprehensive Plan to Improve Port Security. Oz agrees with experts who have identified several measures that should be taken to enhance port security, and has put forward this Comprehensive Port Security Plan:

1. Congress and the Bush Administration should fully fund the Coast Guards budget requests so that it can have the personnel and equipment necessary to provide in-water patrols of the nations waterways and port facilities and intercept questionable cargo at sea, rather than let it enter our Ports.

2. The government should adopt technical standards that enable port security to track all private containers and their contents. This technology is already being used by the Defense Department in tracking the global movement of military goods.

3. Congress should require, and fully fund technology that enables 100\% of containers entering U.S. ports to be scanned upon arrival and offloading.

4. The Bush Administration should immediately implement standard security checks and identification cards for all personnel entering port facilities.

5. Standards should be put in place for the hiring, training and management of all port security personnel.

6. Congress and the Bush Administration should fully fund the placement of U.S. customs officials in international ports with the goal of doing risk assessments on all containers before they head for the United States. Currently only 80\% of such containers are assessed on whether they should be inspected.

7. Congress and the Bush Administration should target Homeland Security grants to high threat ports, and should also provide security grants to foreign ports to improve security and identify high risk containers before they leave their country of origin.