Americans and leaders in Congress shouldn’t fall for the White House spin that Dubai Port World’s bowing out of major U.S. port operations solves our security issues. We must remain vigilant.
“Thousands of Teamsters from across the country stood up to protest this outrageous deal and we were finally heard,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “But we will not rest now, because our ports remain a national security nightmare.”
The Teamsters Union believes that U.S. ports should have the same security standards as those governing American airports in this post-September 11 era. The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) requires companies providing security operations to airports be owned and controlled by U.S. citizens. We should not wait for another terrorist attack to adopt these requirements.
The security gaps from unchecked containers, inadequate fences and too few Coast Guard cutters patrolling our harbors need to be addressed, as well as port trucking operations. The current system relies on hundreds of contractors and small motor carriers, making it nearly impossible track who is going in and out of ports. Under these conditions, no one takes real responsibility for properly checking and training drivers. They are forced to work long hours for little pay. The solution is for drivers to work as employees of companies that are carefully screened and regulated by port authorities. This would ensure security requirements are met.
"Americans should be just as concerned about who has access to our ports as we are about who is running the port," Hoffa said.
Recent reports by ABC News and The New York Times, citing the findings of a yet unreleased Homeland Security Department investigation into the New York and New Jersey ports, confirm that port trucking operations are a major security gap. The articles reported that the DHS investigation found:
Background checks were not conducted for most drivers given licenses at the New York and New Jersey ports
About half of 9,000 truckers checked had criminal records
Many truck drivers had been convicted of homicide, assault, weapons charges, sex offenses, arson, drug dealing, identity theft and cargo theft
About 500 held bogus driver’s licenses, leaving officials unsure of their real identities
The DHS investigation of driver screening concluded there are "serious port security concerns and possible security gaps exposing vulnerabilities” that could be capitalized upon by terrorist organizations.
"The only way to ensure the security of our ports is to pass comprehensive port security legislation that deals with all the weaknesses of the system -- not just one part of a chain with many weak links," Hoffa said.
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