Officials urge lawmakers not to divert port security funds

Security officials from two of the nation's largest seaports on Tuesday urged lawmakers to prevent any of the $58 million appropriated over the past two years for Operation Safe Commerce from being diverted to aviation security or any other Homeland Security Department programs.

"We strongly oppose reprogramming of any funding appropriated for port security," William Ellis, director of security for the Long Beach, California Harbor Department, said during a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing.

The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach is one of three major ports participating in Operation Safe Commerce, a public-private partnership for demonstrating commercial off-the-shelf technologies to secure the global container supply chain. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) administers the program, which received a $28 million appropriation in fiscal 2002 and another $30 million in fiscal 2003.

But TSA Administrator James Loy last month told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that he could not guarantee that none of the $58 million would be diverted to other programs.

"I think the potential for fixing ... the structural shortfall in the TSA budget for [fiscal 2003] offers us, unfortunately, the challenge of looking for funds in places that have the potential for reprogramming, or have the potential for being found," Loy told the Homeland Security Subcommittee during the May 13 hearing.

New Jersey Republican Frank LoBiondo, chairman of the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, on Tuesday called those comments, and reports of other possible plans to divert port security funds, "very disturbing."

"I'm very concerned, and I'm still not clear on how [aviation security's] needs can ... take money away from port security," LoBiondo said. "That clearly looks like the direction we're heading."

Ellis noted that Operation Safe Commerce will help homeland security officials to establish a "new level of technology" for port security efforts around the country. But so far, TSA has not provided port officials with any funds for the program.

Diverting any of those appropriated funds to other programs would severely undermine local port officials' cargo security initiatives, according to Ellis. "Nothing could be more damaging to the program, which is intended to meet one of the most basic port security needs," he said.

To date, Congress also has appropriated about $350 million for TSA's Port Security Grant Program. But Bethann Rooney, manager of port security for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said local port officials need "significantly more" federal funds to address national security threats.

"Many of the improvements that are required to improve maritime transportation security against today's new threats will require costly outlays on the part of public port agencies and private terminal operators to strengthen the infrastructure, implement technology and train personnel," Rooney said.