Marine Log - January 2008 - (Page 21) MARITIMESECURITY to have a policy of giving officers a night’s rest in a hotel after flying before joining their ships. Such policies and actions will now result in fines being imposed,” says the bulletin. The bulletin reports that the number of fines issued nationwide by the CBP has increased. The bulletin says that the CBP is now issuing fines for infractions which would have previously warranted no more than a warning. Thanks to enforcement actions such as these, owners increasingly comply with security regulations because they must, not because they believe. This is a prescription for disaster. BEAN COUNTERS GET BLASE, TOO Meantime, shipowners may not be the only ones getting blase about maritime security. So, too, incredibly is the Bush Administration in the shape of the bean counters at the Office of Management and Budget. On November 30, the Associated Press reported that it had obtained budget documents showing that “the Bush Administration intends to slash counterterrorism funding for police, firefighters and rescue departments across the country by more than half next year.” AP reported that the Department of Homeland Security wanted to provide $3.2 billion to help states and cities protect against terrorist attacks in 2009, “but the White House said it would ask Congress for less than half—$1.4 billion, according to a Nov. 26 document. The plan calls outright elimination of programs for port security, transit security, and local emergency management operations in the next budget year. This is President Bush’s last budget, and the new administration would have to live with the funding decisions between Jan. 20 and Sept. 30, 2009.” The news provoked an outraged reaction—including protests from some of the administration’s usual defenders. Rep. Peter King, (R-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told AP: “This is not the direction I want my party to go in. If this is their mentality, I’m not going to support the budget. I’m not going to support their spending priorities.” Democrats, of course, have pounced on the issue. On December 18, 2007, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was joined by a group of 25 Senators who wrote a letter to President Bush calling on him to reject the proposed funding cuts. “The Port Security Grant Program funds security improvements at our www.marinelog.com JANUARY 2008 MARINE LOG 21 nation’s ports,” the letter noted. “These grants are awarded through a competitive, risk-based process to address critical vulnerabilities, conduct training and exercises, and develop the ability of our ports to be full security partners with federal, state and local agencies. Our ports are hubs of our nation’s economy but remain a vulnerable presence in many communities. As you know, the SAFE Port Act signed into law October 2006 authorized $400 million for port security grants. “These homeland security programs were all authorized by legislation this Administration supported and signed into law. Unfortunately, real security does not come cheap and cannot be achieved with mere words of support,” wrote the senators. ML http://www.protecharmored.com http://www.protecharmored.com http://www.marinelog.com
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