2 forum responses 150 words each APA format include citations:
1. michaelsantiago
1. Explain how the Global Transportation System (GTS) impacts port maritime operations.
For decades, many seaports operated with little oversight and regulations. Security could range from armed professional security team to rent a monitor watching television. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 our government was staring at bright neon vulnerability on one of the most critical transportation infrastructure. According to Christopher (2015) possess the following questions.
What scrutiny has been given to this vessel, its crew, and its cargo as it moves around the world from port to port? What is really inside those metal boxes that move from warehouse to truck to train to ship to port? How closely have the activities of the men and women who transferred the containers onto this vessel been monitored?
The answers prior to 9/11 could vary extremely, however post attacks these need to be answered to ensure the flow of commerce and safety. In today's environment, Maritime Port operations is highly regulated industry that must comply with the new laws that where created after 9/11. Knowing who is who was one of the major role out that I remember in the coast guard with the transportation worker identification credential (TWIC), this program required any persons working at the port to complete a background check and carry this newly required identification card.
2. Describe the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 and discuss how this "Act" affects port security operations including the intramodal.
As one starts to actually read the law and reflects on Sec. 101. Findings to me feels like a gut punch knowing how vulnerable we were prior to the maritime transportation security act. "The top 50 ports in the United States account for about 90 percent of all the cargo tonnage. Twenty-Five United States ports account for 98 percent of all container shipments. Cruise ships visiting foreign destinations embark from at least 16 ports. Ferries in the United States transport 113,000,000 passengers and 32,000,000 vehicles per year." (MTSA 2002) Forcing our sights from just the port to beyond the horizon by creating systems to track longer range vessel arrivals. Escorting sensitive vessels in and out of port became a larger role for the coast guard as a direct result of this law. In addition to overhauling the entire coast guard leading the way for the development of the Department of Homeland Security the same day the Maritime Transportation Security Act was passed.
References:
Christopher, K. (2015). Port Security Management. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
PUBLIC LAW 107-295. (2002, November 25). Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. Public Law 107-295 107th Congress. Retrieved from, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ295/pdf/PLAW-107publ295.pdf
2. Ryan Norton
1. Explain how the Global Transportation System (GTS) impacts port maritime operations.
The 2001 terrorist attacks on America were a paradigm-shifting event for transportation systems security in general. For the maritime sector particularly, that event prompted dramatic shifts in the focused perspectives on security now required by anyone even remotely affiliated with the management of security of ports, as well as the vessels, conveyances, and people transiting them (Christopher, 2015).
The need for security of our ports has become extremely necessary unlike anytime before 9/11. The potential for attacks on our country have become almost the norm and that makes our ports a desirable access route for terrorists. The threat of ships and containers being used to get terrorists or terrorist materials into the United States is a concern that has to be taken extremely serious. Unlike when on 9/11 the terrorists used the airplanes as the devices to complete the attacks we have yet to see the use of actual ships as modes of attack but the use of them to move materials is the main threat. Also, since we use ships as vessels to move materials across the world we have to be leary of piracy to our ships and the safety of our personnel. If any ship that was moving materials that could be used by terrorists, it would be a significant act that would be construed as an attack on America.
Given that port and shipping facilities may be targets for extremists, security management in these facilities must give gravitas to the possibilities that the people who come in to and out of ports every day, for example, ships' crews, truck drivers, vendors, dock workers, secretaries, and even security and law enforcement agents, may be using their ability to access critical infrastructure to contemplate or plan harm to a facility. It is a given in the security profession that the mitigation of risk begins with controlling access to the facility (Christopher, 2015). There has to be instances in place where the security of these individuals is under scrutiny as every possible scenario could take place via terrorists gaining access via false documents.
2. Describe the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 and discuss how this "Act" affects port security operations including the intramodal.
The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 is an Act of Congress enacted by the 107th United States Congress to address port and waterway security. This act affects the port security in ways that deter the terrorists from entering or trying to attack the borders. There is a very intense system in place to monitor and inspect incoming and outgoing cargo as well as the crew of the vessels. Also, the movements of the ships is monitored to ensure that anything suspicious is detected and also to deter them from making movements that may be monitored and intercepted as potential terrorist attacks (MTSA, 2002).
References:
Christopher, K. (2014). Port Security Management, Second Edition.
Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. (2002). Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ295/PLAW-107publ295.pdf