Coast Guard to add 71 port facility inspectors

Coast Guard to add 71 port facility inspectors    The U.S. Coast Guard plans to fill 39 new positions this summer for domestic port security inspectors, according to prepared testimony last week by Rear Adm. Craig Bone, assistant commandant for prevention.
   The additional staffing was made possible by $15 million in 2007 appropriations to fund additional inspections of maritime facilities.
   Under the 2002 Maritime Transportation Security Act, the Coast Guard is required to verify that refineries, chemical plants, cargo terminals and other facilities located on waterways are following approved security plans to mitigate risks for their sites.
   The Coast Guard is required to do one announced inspection of each marine terminal or other facility and one unannounced random inspection per year. In the past, time permitting, inspectors visited facilities more than once on a random basis. The SAFE Port Act requires the agency to conduct two inspections of each facility with at least one being an unannounced inspection.
   The Coast Guard’s existing contingent of 350 facility inspectors conducted more than 7,500 security inspections and 3,200 unannounced spot checks last year, Bone reported to a House Homeland Security subcommittee.
   The 2006 inspections resulted in 465 violations and penalties of $1.9 million to commercial operators, he said.
   The Coast Guard also conducts assessments of foreign ports to make sure they comply with international security standards. The International Ship and Port Facility Code, which went into effect in July 2004, requires countries to develop and implement antiterrorism plans for port facilities. Vessels that have called at ports in countries that don’t meet ISPS requirements are boarded at sea and may be subject to other restrictions, such as daylight-only transit or even denial of entry into U.S. waters.
   Bone said the sea service is on track to complete an initial assessment of all trading partners by March 2008, after which it intends to conduct follow-up assessments on a two-year cycle. Coast Guard teams also offer advice to help maritime officials in other countries improve security. As of April, the agency has visited 86 countries and plans to complete 29 more visits by the end of September, according to the Government Accountability Office.
   Congress in the 2007 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act called on the Coast Guard to double the rate of assessments from three per month to six per month. The two-year cycle exceeds the requirements of the SAFE Port Act, which required reassessments to be conducted every three years. The Coast Guard will use $6.7 million in new funds to hire 32 inspectors and support overseas activities.
   The GAO found in a review of Coast Guard work in the Caribbean Basin that one country has not yet implemented the code and that several facilities in the region needed improvements in access controls, communication devices, fencing, lighting and other areas, according to Stephen Caldwell, director of homeland security and justice. The congressional watchdog agency is in the midst of a broader review of the Coast Guard’s international port security program and does not have findings from other parts of the world.
   Caldwell said the Coast Guard will be challenged to conduct inspections at a faster rate because experienced personnel who have been with the program since its inception are being transferred to other positions as part of the Coast Guard’s normal rotation policy and because the program requires specialized training.