TSA Takes Multi-Prong Approach to Maritime Security
News & Happenings
November 19, 2007
Seasonably cool, damp and gray weather blanketed St. George's terminal on Staten Island in early April this year as the Maritime Security Division coordinated operations to screen Manhattan-bound ferry passengers for explosives. Looking like a movie-premier spotlight, the weapon of choice to combat possible terrorism was a SPO-20 passive millimeter wave machine.
The machine uses sensors called radiometers that detect differences in radiometric temperature much like infrared sensors detect light at infrared wavelengths. The easily maneuverable SPO-20 is pointed toward passengers going through turnstiles. The sensors can detect whether a person is emitting an unusual radiometric signature that may indicate the presence of an improvised explosive device (IED).
"This terminal sees up to 65,000 passengers a day, and given the skeptical nature of commuters in New York, the response was overwhelmingly positive," said Jamie Clarkson, general manager for TSNM's Maritime Security Division.
In September 2006, Clarkson, a former shipmaster and entrepreneur with 20 years of merchant marine and business experience, became general manager of the division, which has 12 employees with a wide range of government and industry expertise. This includes experience with the Coast Guard, Navy intelligence, the Marine Corps, as merchant vessel operators and ship agents.
The division coordinates with the U.S. Coast Guard (the lead DHS agency for maritime security) and private stakeholders to meet its narrowly defined missions of enhancing maritime passenger security and intermodal connectivity in the port security network. The division's strengths are its domain awareness and access to intermodal expertise that it shares with its partners.
The Port Security Exercise Training Program (PortSTEP), one of the division's three primary programs, brings together federal, state and local governments and private institutions to test responses to specific security events within these complex environments. To accomplish that, PortSTEP employs training exercises, evaluations and communication.
The Security Enhancement and Capabilities Augmentation Program (SEACAP) includes screening deployments that test emerging technologies like the SPO-20. Other technology deployments have occurred in San Francisco Bay and on the Cape May-Lewis Ferry.
The Security Training, Operational Readiness, and Maritime Community Awareness Program (STORMCAP) is the division's third key program. Its objective is to generate useful security information such as the recently published "Security Awareness for Passenger Vessel Employees," an interactive training tool, and the "User's Guide on Security Seals for Domestic Cargo," a comprehensive guide for choosing, applying and managing the use of security seals for shipping containers.
The division also focuses on security grants, meeting with Coast Guard and other federal officials to discuss grant-related issues and evaluate applications. Grants allocated in fiscal 2007 topped $1 billion in seven years, including more than $300 million this year.
