Report: Jones Act has national security benefits

Allowing foreign-owned ships operated by foreign crews to participate in cabotage trade in the United States would add to the burden facing domestic security agencies, according to a new report from Lexington Institute.    The Arlington, Va.-based Lexington Institute is arguing that the Jones Act, which requires vessels moving cargo between points within the United States to be crewed by U.S. citizens, benefits national security.
   “It is particularly important that those vessels and crews which routinely travel between U.S. ports and especially the inland waterways through America’s heartland pose no threat to the homeland. It is for this reason that the higher standards with respect to ownership and manning requirements for Jones Act ships are so significant,” says a blog post by Daniel Gouré, the vice president of the public policy research organization.
   “The task of securing U.S. seaports and foreign cargoes is daunting by itself. It makes no sense to add to the burden facing domestic security agencies by allowing foreign-owned ships operated by foreign crews to move freely throughout America’s inland lakes, rivers and waterways,” wrote Gouré. “The requirement that all the officers and fully 75 percent of the crews of vessels engaged in cabotage be U.S. citizens goes a long way to reducing the risk that terrorists could get onboard or execute an attack on a U.S. target.”
    “In effect, there is a system of self-policing that reduces the requirement for law enforcement and homeland security organizations to expend time and effort to ensure that these vessels and crews are safe to traverse U.S. waters. Were the Jones Act not in existence, the Department of Homeland Security would be confronted by the difficult and very costly requirement of monitoring, regulating and overseeing foreign-controlled, foreign crewed vessels in coastal and internal U.S. waters,” he said.