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Bush Administration Announces Background Checks of Port Workers

Posted on: Thursday, 27 April 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Beth Gallaspy, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas

Apr. 26--Partial background checks of about 400,000 port workers nationwide were announced Tuesday by the Bush administration as part of enhanced port security measures that have been in the works for years.

The Homeland Security Department announced plans to immediately start checking names of those who work in secure areas of ports against terrorist watch lists and immigration databases.

Full criminal background checks will not begin until the comprehensive nationwide biometric-based Transportation Worker Identification Credential program begins later this year, according to a Homeland Security news release about the new measures.

The department also will issue tamper-resistant identification cards to about 750,000 workers -- including truckers and rail employees -- who have unrestricted access to ports, The Associated Press reported.

"It is fundamental that individuals who pose a security threat do not gain access to our nation's ports," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a news release. "The name-based checks will provide an immediate security boost while we simultaneously complete the work to implement a secure national transportation worker credential."

Chris Fisher, executive director of the Port of Beaumont, said the security upgrades were not unexpected in Southeast Texas.

"It's not anything that we hadn't been anticipating," Fisher said.

Floyd Gaspard, executive director of the Port of Port Arthur, also said the new measures fall in line with what the port already was working toward.

"We are obviously moving forward, and we are very near to a very sophisticated, and what we feel is a very secure, entrance and command center here," Gaspard said.

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, whose district includes Jefferson County, said he supports the effort.

A controversial deal earlier this year that almost had a Dubai-owned company operating U.S. ports "opened Americans' eyes to a potential threat that has long been overlooked," Poe said in an e-mailed statement. "We need to make sure that the people working in our ports are who they say they are. The very safety of our nation is at stake."

The Associated Press reported that Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, had tepid praise for the announcement.

"I find the timing of this announcement very convenient, seeing as Congress is considering a port security bill tomorrow," Thompson told the wire service. "It appears that DHS steps up to the plate to protect our national security only when the cameras are rolling and the whole world is watching."

Thompson told the AP that Homeland Security should have issued the ID cards three years ago.

Democrats have consistently criticized Homeland Security for failing to screen all cargo entering U.S. ports.

When a Dubai state-owned company bought a British firm that would have given it control of operations at several American ports, even Republicans joined the outcry over security gaps at U.S. ports. The Dubai company later sold to a U.S. company.

Chertoff told The Associated Press the administration has proposed up to $9 billion in spending to protect ports through the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and state grants.

Two-thirds of all containers will undergo radiation screening for nuclear materials by the year's end, and 80 percent of cargo entering the United States comes from foreign ports with rigorous inspection standards, Chertoff told the AP.

But Chertoff argued against physically inspecting every cargo container entering U.S. ports.

"To call for all physical inspection of every container is like saying we're going to strip search everybody who gets on an airplane," Chertoff told the AP. "In theory, that would make us safe. I think that it would destroy the airline industry.

"So we're not going to strip search people, everybody getting on an airplane, and I don't think it's wise to physically inspect every container."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas

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Source: The Beaumont Enterprise

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