Secure America's ports! David Hackworth warns of terrorists shipping nukes into U.S.

Almost any cop in America, if he or she has a verifiable reasonable suspicion, can pull over a vehicle to search it. At any courthouse, federal building or airport, you and all your goodies are also subject to search. Which is as it should be. We need to keep the streets safe, and we need to secure our government and air-travel facilities.

So why in the name of Tom Ridge aren't we applying this same procedure to ships that might be transporting nuclear mayhem toward our shores at this very moment? Think about it – you're reading this article in the comfort of a lifestyle that could soon become a distant memory if some foreign freighter succeeds in delivering our worst nightmare. And we're doing little or nothing to stop it.

Back when I was pounding ground, if anyone set foot in my area of operation and anything was out of place, you better believe the suspected perp would find himself face-down in the mud under guard until we knew everything we needed to know.

You might say, "Well, that was war!" Well, guess what? We are at war! Want to see the battlefield? Go look out your kitchen window. Want to see tomorrow's victims? Check out the kids playing next door. But while you're looking around, bear in mind that the enemy is using our shipping facilities and our porous borders to stockpile weapons of mass destruction to use against us.

And we're not doing more to secure our ports because the powers that be prefer to double-check obvious solutions by farming out "studies" to "institutes" to the tune of millions of dollars so that their pals – "the experts" – can eventually come to the same common-sense conclusions that the rest of us have already figured out.

We've got to make sure that kind of thinking stops and stops now, or it won't be the terrorists' fault when things blow, it'll be ours. Here's what needs to be done quicksmart to protect our country:

Write your congressional reps and show support for U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner's "Container Security Initiative." Either foreign ports play by our rules and get on board with good security, or we'll deal only with companies that use ports that comply. Foreign airports provide the same level of security we do, and their seaports should have to do the same.

Until we build offshore inspection stations, the Coast Guard must fulfill its original charter obligations "to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of the federal revenue." Coast Guard duties include operating in times of peace "under the Department of Transportation, serving as the nation's front-line agency for promoting our laws at sea, protecting our coastline and ports, and saving life." The Coast Guard needs to randomly stop ships to check logs and manifests, screen for unauthorized passengers and scope for anything on board that looks suspicious.

And – in case you've been wondering why al-Qaida operatives have been so interested in scuba gear lately – they also need to copy the Israelis and sweep hulls to make sure a ship isn't being used as an unwitting Trojan horse. One of our dedicated Coast Guardsmen just told me he's been begging the brass to let him do exactly this. The answer he keeps getting from the land-based Perfumed Prince admirals? A resounding "No!"

So contact your congressional reps and light a fire. To preclude their ignoring you, tell them this: New York recently intercepted a 2-ton shipment of cocaine coming in by ship. No way would the drug Mafia risk a shipment that big if the route hadn't worked before. Considering that 7,500 foreign ships carrying more than 600 billion tons of goods come into the United States annually and that only 2 percent get searched, how many more tons of coke have made it in? And how much smaller is a crate of Stinger missiles or a small nuke – or a 1-pound container of smallpox culture – than a ton of white powder?

By now, I hope you're wondering, "But what if they switch to ships going to Canada or Mexico and smuggle weapons in from there?"

Good Morning JH2, as a former Coastguardsman I have been scared to death of a group of terrorists coming into the US aboard a large freighter hawing with them a huge load of plastic explosives, auto weapons, surface to air missles etc. They wait until they come into the US and use the missles to shoot down airliners, use the plastics explosives to blow the bottom out of the ship and sink in in a major shipping channel like the St Lawrence Seraway, Port of San Francisco or somewhere else. Our harbors are wide open to attack and we had better wise up and get on the ball.

I would not be surprised if the US has put terrorist nations on notice that if a WMD attack occurs in this country, their countries will suffer devastating retaliation, including nuclear.

If we haven't put them on such notice, we should.

Thanks for your service. FYI, I've seen many articles here on FR about the expansion of duties and the increase in personnel for the Coast Guard, Customs, Port Authority, Harbor Police, INS, and local LE. We have a ways to go, but there have been numerous improvements and there's more on the boards.

USCG Auxiliary
11s, Division 2, Flotilla 27
LA/Long Beach Harbor patrols

The economy is gonna get worse, we will be attacked again in spectacular fashion because that IMHO is what gov.org wants.

This will lead to W being a one termer, a tough acting dem will be elected (can you say arkansas antichrust)and we will soon live in a police state that will do nothing to effectivly seal our borders.

However they will curtail our liberties,make us get a fed ID, outlaw currency and replace it with electronic banking all in the name making us safe.

Great post JH2. Hackworth is dead on about this. On one point
in case you've been wondering why al-Qaida operatives have been so interested in scuba gear lately ? they also need to copy the Israelis and sweep hulls to make sure a ship isn't being used as an unwitting Trojan horse.

This is why our subs have Diver qualified (DV) personel onbaord, we have to sweep the hull, before getting underway from any forein port, and sometimes it's dang cold doing it *L*

You didn't take it far enough....then they will force all citizens and residents to accept a subdermal digital chip which will verify our location anywhere on the planet via GPS and authorize any cashless purchases which can be made. All such authorizations to come only after uttering an oath of undying love and loyalty to the new global leader. Oh and all of the id chips will carry the same three digit number.

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