(6) Seaports often are a major locus of Federal crime, including drug trafficking, cargo theft, and smuggling of contraband and aliens. The criminal conspiracies often associated with these crimes can pose threats to the people and critical infrastructures of seaport cities. Seaports that accept international cargo have a higher risk of international crimes like drug and alien smuggling.
(7) Seaports are often very open and exposed, and by their very nature, could pose to be threats to large scale terrorism that could pose a threat to coastal, Great Lake, or riverain populations. Seaport terrorism could pose a significant threat to the ability of the United States to pursue its national security objectives.
(8) United States seaports are international boundaries, however, unlike United States airports and land borders, United States seaports receive no Federal funds for security infrastructure.
(9) Current inspection levels of containerized cargo are insufficient to counter potential security risks. Technology is currently not adequate to allow for the non-intrusive inspection of containerized cargo, but promising technology is in the process of being developed that could inspect cargo in a nonintrusive and timely fashion.
(10) The burgeoning cruise ship industry poses a special risk from a security perspective. The large number of United States citizens sailing on international cruises provides an attractive target to terrorists seeking to cause mass casualties. Approximately 80 percent of cruise line passengers are United States citizens and 20 percent are aliens. Approximately 92 percent of crewmembers are aliens.
(11) Effective physical security and access control in seaports is fundamental to deterring and preventing potential threats to seaport operations, cargo shipments for smuggling or theft or other cargo crimes.
(12) Securing entry points, open storage areas, and warehouses throughout the seaport, controlling the movements of trucks transporting cargo through the seaport, and searching containers, warehouses, and ships at berth or in the harbor are all important requirements that should be implemented.
(13) Identification procedures for arriving workers and deterring and preventing internal conspiracies are increasingly important.
