Text: Democratic Senators Cite Danger of North Korea, Urge Increased Security
(Sen. Hollings March 6 press release) (1390)
Democratic Senators Fritz Hollings (South Carolina), Charles Schumer
(New York) and Patty Murray (Washington) issued a press release March
6 urging the Bush administration to immediately boost security at U.S.
border crossings and ports because of the threat posed by North Korean
nuclear processing.
The release states that "as reports of North Korea's new ability to
produce, and possibly sell, nuclear materials to terrorists have come
to light," more resources must be provided to prevent these materials
from entering the United States for use in terrorist activities.
"Failing to secure our ports from attack could result in a
catastrophic attack on our economy and, ultimately, on the health of
our nation," Hollings, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce,
Science and Transportation Committee, said in the release.
The release states the Bush administration is "hampering congressional
efforts to protect our seaports from attack" by refusing to adequately
fund measures such as the Port and Maritime Security Act, which was
signed into law December 2002.
The Act mandates that all ports, facilities and vessels have
comprehensive security plans and incident response plans based on
detailed Coast Guard vulnerability assessments and security
recommendations.
Following is the March 6 press release as received from Senator
Hollings' office:
(begin text)
Senators: North Korea's Ability To Produce Nuclear Material Makes U.S.
Border Security Far More Important
Hollings, Schumer, Murray implore the Administration to fully fund
port security.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - At a press conference today, U.S. Sens. Fritz
Hollings (D-S.C.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.),
and others urged the Bush Administration to fully fund port security
measures passed by the Senate and immediately boost security at US
border crossings and ports. They renewed their calls for funding as
reports of North Korea's new ability to produce, and possibly sell,
nuclear materials to terrorists have come to light. The reactivation
of the Yongbyong reactor and new intelligence gleaned from the Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed arrest showing that building a dirty bomb is high on
Al Qaeda's list of priorities underscore the need for increased border
measures.
"Failing to secure our ports from attack could result in a
catastrophic attack on our economy and, ultimately, on the health of
our nation," Sen. Hollings said. "We do not have adequate port
security resources right now, and I have not seen from this
Administration the requisite commitment to secure our seaports in the
future. The Coast Guard, Customs, Transportation Security
Administration, local law enforcement, and port operators are doing
their best. However, this Administration must help them acquire the
resources necessary to institute effective security. If they do not
make that commitment, we will be defenseless from a catastrophic
attack. I urge the White House to address this immediately, make the
necessary funding commitment, and get going on protecting our ports
from a very real threat."
"If the Administration's opposition to funding common sense security
measures was aggravating a few weeks ago, it's becoming maddening
now," Schumer said. "North Korea and Al Qaeda are combining to pack a
lethal threat to the United States but the country isn't close to
making the kinds of preparations that are needed to defend against
those threats. The ideological opposition to making the kinds of
investments needed to secure our ports and borders is endangering
America and cannot be allowed to continue."
"Six million containers enter America's seaports each year, and we
don't know enough about what's inside them," Murray said. "Last year,
Congress passed and the President signed a pilot project to improve
security by enabling our ports to track foreign containers from their
point of origin, across the ocean, and into the U.S. This money has
been in the President's pocket since August of 2002, but after eight
months of waiting for this new initiative, our Ports are being given
excuses instead of federal dollars. What will it take to get the
Administration to act?"
To address its desperate economic situation and gripping famine, North
Korea has established itself as the world's arms dealer of last
resort, selling weapons to those rogue nations shunned by the world
community. Today, North Korea is the world's top supplier of arms
technology to Syria, Iran, Yemen and Libya - all of which have strong
connections to terrorists - and earns as much as $100 million a year
from this trade.
North Korea's decision to reactivate the Yongbyong reactor, along with
the Administration's expectation that the North will activate the
reprocessing plant able to produce weapons-grade plutonium, has
increased the possibility of North Korean plutonium being sold to
rogue nations or terrorist groups. This scenario is even more
plausible given recent intelligence showing that the construction of a
dirty bomb is high on Al Qaeda's list of priorities. Earlier this
month, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage echoed this
warning in testimony before Congress, saying North Korea could sell
plutonium to "a nonstate actor or a rogue state."
Last Friday, for example, the Department of Homeland Security
announced that it would equip all 18,000 border inspectors with
radiation detection devices. This effort, however, will not be
completed until the middle of next year, doing little to protect the
US from the risk of a bomb being smuggled into the nation in the near
future. In addition, it does nothing to prevent nuclear material from
entering the country via sea containers which are virtually unscreened
by customs agents.
About 95 percent of the shipping containers - 6 million containers -
arrive in the US each year via sea transport. Currently, only 2
percent of these containers are actually inspected, while even less
are screened for nuclear material. This inadequate monitoring makes it
exceedingly easy to smuggle the components of a dirty bomb into the
country.
To address this problem, Sen. Hollings and Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.)
introduced the Port and Maritime Security Act, which was signed into
law in December 2002. The bill mandates for the first time that all
ports, facilities and vessels have comprehensive security plans and
incident response plans based on detailed Coast Guard vulnerability
assessments and security recommendations. The bill also calls for
coordination among the Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration and
Naturalization Service and local port security entities to implement
collaborative long-term solutions for seaport safety issues. Although
the bill was enacted in December, the Administration has not provided
adequate funding to implement the bill's mandates and thus is
hampering congressional efforts to protect our seaports from attack.
The United States Coast Guard estimates that the private sector costs
for compliance with the bill's port security requirements will be $4.4
billion, with annual costs of $500 million. Since the September 11
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Administration
has only provided the following funding for port security: $93 million
for port security grants in the fiscal year 2001 supplemental
appropriations bill; $105 million for port security grants in the
fiscal year 2002 supplemental appropriations bill; and $150 million
for port security grants in the fiscal year 2003 omnibus
appropriations bill. Furthermore, the Administration's fiscal year
2004 budget provides only $200 million for port security grants to the
private sector.
Schumer said a provision he included in the Hollings bill to create
the Port Security Research and Development Grant Program (PSRDG) is
also suffering from a lack of funding. The program, which is currently
funded at only $10 million in the FY03 Omnibus, aims to develop super
geiger counters that would allow port officials to screen cargo
containers for radiation without impeding commercial activity. Schumer
got the Senate to appropriate $50 million annually for the next three
years but that number got slashed to $10 million in the final version
of the bill.
Murray faulted the Administration for sitting on $28 million for a
port security initiative she included in the 2002 Supplemental
Appropriations Bill last July. Those funds were intended to establish
a tracking program, called Operation Safe Cargo, for international
cargo headed to the United States, ensuring that authorities are able
to monitor goods from the moment they leave the factory to their
arrival in the United States. These funds have not yet been released,
leaving the program unimplemented.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
