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A Coast Guard inspection of a freighter docked at the Port of Longview "didn't uncover or reveal anything," a Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday, but the crew members are not allowed off the ship and security will be maintained until the ship leaves. "We were not expecting to find anything," Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith, the Coast Guard's public affairs officer for the Pacific area, said Saturday by telephone from his office in Alameda, Calif. The search was routine, according to the Coast Guard, but Longview officials said the security crackdown is the most port activity since the Sept. 11, 2001,...

I was listening to a debate on talk radio whether two Liquefied natural gas (LNG) Tankers should be allowed into Boston harbor on 2/11/10. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino had asked that they not be allowed in due to security concerns. But others say it's perfectly safe, that there's plenty of security and so on. And my first impulse was to think, how likely is it that there would be such an attack on a known target with everyone watching?

I was listening to a debate on talk radio whether two Liquefied natural gas (LNG) Tankers should be allowed into Boston harbor on 2/11/10. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino had asked that they not be allowed in due to security concerns. But others say it's perfectly safe, that there's plenty of security and so on. And my first impulse was to think, how likely is it that there would be such an attack on a known target with everyone watching?

Paper no. 3068 Admiral Sureesh Mehta, the Chief of the Naval Staff sounded a stern warning on 18th February 2009, about the possibility of nuclear weapons being smuggled in to the country through the ever increasing container traffic. The warning was issued at a seminar to discuss Port Development and related security issues. At one level, there is nothing new in the warning. Similar warnings were issued post 9/11 by US and other maritime analysts who expected the seas to be the next medium for transportation and manifestation of terror. It is this fear that prompted the US to examine...

President Barack Obama on Saturday laid out more pieces of an economic plan he says would add 3,000 miles of electrical lines, increase security at 90 ports and double the United States' renewable energy capacity within three years. It was the latest appeal from the new president for a massive spending bill designed to inject almost a trillion dollars into a flailing U.S. economy and to fulfill campaign pledges. As members of Congress consider an $825 billion plan and Obama woos them, his White House released a radio and Internet address directed at voters who want answers. ( ... )...

SNIPPET: "Two stowaways onboard a container ship were apprehended at the Port of Los Angeles." SNIPPET: "The Coast Guard had been notified that two stowaways were discovered on the LA-bound container ship Zenit during an earlier port call. The stowaways were reported to be Nigerian nationals"

With all eyes on the Big O’s Office of the President-elect, very few know that the Port of Los Angeles--the nation’s largest--is now effectively under the control of the Peoples Republic of China.

ABU DHABI — A leading Gulf firm in the United Arab Emirates whose plans to operate six U.S. ports was last year rebuffed by Congress, has been certified as a partner in a U.S. port security program. The state-owned Dubai Ports World has been certified as a partner in the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism. DP World underwent a successful audit that determined the company met international ISO 28000 security standards required by C-TPAT. In 2007, DP abandoned plans to purchase a British company that operated six major ports in the United States, Middle East Newsline reported. Congress was opposed to...

More details have emerged about an apparent infiltration of Islamic terrorists through US ports during the past two months.Some of the men slipped through secuirty disguised as stevedores, according to Bob Graham Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.He said he had seen reports indicating that some extremists might have been wearing safety jackets and protective helmets to give the appearance of dockworkers.U.S. Coast Guard Officials have refused to divulge any information about the reports but Graham stressed: 'The American people have a right to know.'He said 25 extremists 'entered in a foriegn country, hid out in a container...

WASHINGTON: The specter of a nuclear bomb, hidden in a cargo container, detonating in an American port has prompted Congress to require 100 percent screening of U.S.-bound ships at their more than 600 foreign starting points. The Bush administration and shippers maintain the technology for scanning 11 million containers each year does not exist and say the requirement could disrupt trade. Current procedures including manifest inspections at foreign ports and radiation monitoring in U.S. ports are working well, they contend. Nonetheless, President George W. Bush signed the measure into law this month and praised its transfer of domestic money to...

Lost in Transit by: Bethany Stotts, July 25, 2007 With the recent revelation that the Department of Defense cannot locate more than 50,000 containers, concerns about the government's ability to equip soldiers on the battlefield prompted Senators Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and George Voinovich (R-OH) to call the fourth senate hearing on DoD supply-chain management since 2005. Many of the containers lost in transit are owned privately, and have simply disappeared. When asked if the containers were empty or full when they were lost, or if they made it to their destination, General Schwartz, Commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, replied...

May 11, 2007 U.S. Port Contractor Has Terrorist Ties A foreign company set to build a massive tunnel project at a major U.S. seaport has close ties to the government of a country that has long appeared on the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorism. The French construction giant (Bouygues Travaux Publics) is the preferred contractor to build a $1 billion tunnel at the South Florida Port of Miami, the world’s top cruise ship terminal with nearly 4 million passengers annually and one of the country’s busiest cargo ports with about one million containers a year. It turns...

The television advertisement starts with an ominous warning about 9/11. Then it shows a nuclear explosion, followed by a photo of Osama bin Laden and a ship loaded with cargo containers. "Since 9/11, it is one of the greatest threats we face, a nuclear weapon in the hands of Osama bin Laden shipped through an American port," says the voice-over. Finally, the ad reveals its villain: an outfit based in Arkansas that has a network of 1.8 million workers around the world who operate at 3,900 locations in the United States. Its corporate name is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. What's the...

MIAMI - The Port of Miami was hit by its second terrorism scare in two days Monday when a package that was to be loaded onto a cruise ship tested positive for plastic explosives. Authorities later determined it was harmless. The package was initially tested six times, and each time it came back positive for the military-grade explosive known as C4, the Coast Guard said. The package was then destroyed, and a Miami-Dade County police bomb squad determined it contained sprinkler parts, said Zach Mann, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Miami.

MIAMI Jan 8, 2007 (AP)— A package that was going to be loaded onto a cruise ship at the Port of Miami tested positive for plastic explosives Monday, the Coast Guard said. The package was tested six times and each time it came back positive for C4, said Petty Officer James Judge. Miami-Dade police were examining the package to confirm whether explosives were present. The developments came a day after three Middle Eastern men in a cargo truck sparked a brief terrorism scare at the port. After a bomb squad search, authorities concluded that the men were carrying automotive parts...

Bush signs law on security for US ports, ban on online gambling President George W. Bush signed a law designed to bolster security at US ports and prevent terrorists from smuggling in nuclear weapons. The law also included an unrelated provision inserted by lawmakers in Congress to severely restrict Internet gambling, prompting gaming companies abroad to close down their US operations. Hoping to retain control of Congress in legislative elections on November 7, lawmakers in Bush's Republican party adopted the measure two weeks ago to persuade voters that they are better able to prevent another terrorist attack. The Republicans rode...

DUBAI DUETS Late Friday, Department of Justice lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel were attempting to determine if former President Bill Clinton had registered as an "Agent of a Foreign Principal." Federal statute requires that anyone -- even a former President -- doing political or public affairs work on behalf of a foreign country, agency or official must register with the Department, and essentially update his status every six months. It was not clear the Clinton had done so. If his status is less clear, here is what we do know: If Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did not know...

NORFOLK, Va. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is endorsing U-S Senator George Allen's re-election bid. Giuliani joined Allen today for a briefing on port security in Norfolk and a private fundraising luncheon in Virginia Beach. It is the second time in two weeks that Allen has appeared with a possible rival for the 2008 G-O-P presidential nomination. Giuliani is best known nationally for his leadership following the terrorist attacks on New York City five years ago. He has been traveling around the nation speaking on behalf of Republican candidates. Allen brought the popular former mayor with him to Hampton...

Excerpt - Bomb squads are responding to Terminal 18 on Seattle's waterfront after a canine bomb team found possible explosives in a container, the Coast Guard said this afternoon. ~ snip ~

The nation's defense against nuclear terrorism took a major step Friday, federal officials said, following the award of contracts worth $1.2 billion to install advanced sensors at U.S. ports of entry to screen for radioactive cargo. The Department of Homeland Security plans to install 1,400 advanced detection systems at 370 border crossings and ports under the program, which has been in development at federal laboratories for several years. The sensors, which cost $350,000 to $600,000 each, will allow inspectors to scan rail cars, trucks and shipping containers with greater accuracy and fewer false alarms, said Vayl S. Oxford, director of...