Congress held hearings this week on TWIC implementation. 

The Statement of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair is here.  The Chair of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, here.  Coast Guard Admiral Salerno, here.  TWIC Program Manager for the Transportation Security Administration, here. TWIC implementation contractor’s representative, here.  And

Thanks to cgblog.org for their post on the new National Response Framework published by the Department of Homeland Security. 

This framework "adds" on to the National Response Plan and is used for interagency (federal/state/local) responses to incidents.  In the maritime context, the National Response Plan was frequently used for pollution incidents and cleanup.

Maui News reports on the difficulties posed by the TWIC implementation at Kahului Harbor. I discussed TWICs here.  TWIC implementation nationwide has been challenging on several levels.  Hopefully, these transition issues can be sorted out and the nation’s ports can become more secure.

The GAO issued a report on federal efforts to prevent and respond to terrorist attack on vessels carrying oil and liquified natural gas (or to use the report’s term – energy commodity tankers).

This lengthy report identifies shortcomings in prevention and response plans, entrusted largely to the U.S. Coast Guard.  The GAO recommended that the…

Nuclear Threat Initiative’s Global Security Newswire reports that Congress is pressing for outside scientific analysis of radiation detectors slated for use at the nation’s ports, posted here.

Per NTI’s report, "The new detectors, called Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitors (or ASPs), are designed to not only detect radiation but to identify the nature of its…

The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) is coming to Maui and Kauai.

Per the schedule, TWIC enrollment starts Janurary 17 at Kahului and January 25 for Kauai.

Securitydebrief issued some New Year’s resolutions for securing the homeland, here.  Shipping container scanning continues to present a problem owing to:  1)  the sheer volume of containers unloaded every day in U.S. ports; 2) the near insurmountable obstacle of inspecting containers at sea; 3) the inherently voracious nature of the U.S. supply chain; and…

As more time allows for a comprehensive review of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill passed last week, there are some interesting developments. 

As noted in by Securitydebrief, Congress approved $400 million for grants to improve the nation’s port security.  The increase in concern over port security has led to the use of new technologies to…