Homeland Security Launches Pilot to Counter Small-Vessel Attacks

The U.S. Homeland Security Department is undertaking a pilot program aimed at countering the threat of a small-vessel attack on the nation’s ports, an official told Global Security Newswire last week (see GSN, July 24).

Boats docked at a marina in San Diego, Calif. The United States has launched a new effort to protect its ports from small vessel attacks, an official said last week (Don Emmert/Getty Images).

The agency’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office has launched a “West Coast Maritime Pilot” effort, based in San Diego and Washington state’s Puget Sound region.

The program is slated to deploy and evaluate radiation and nuclear detection equipment, to include human-portable and mobile, or boat-mounted, systems, according to Chris Inman, the detection office director for the San Diego portion of the effort.

Program officials will develop a regional maritime concept of operations and provide naval-specific training on nuclear detection equipment, he said. It also will “identify any gaps that may still be remaining in that maritime architecture,” Inman said.

National concern about the threats posed by small naval vessels appears to be on the rise.

Bethann Rooney, manager of port security for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, sees a small-vessel attack as the greatest security risk facing the nation’s ports today.

“For us, we’ve essentially got a single choke point that all deep draft vessels need to pass,” she said during a July 10 panel discussion at the Center for National Policy. “If that choke point is compromised by a small vessel attack … it will essentially shut down the entire port of New York and New Jersey.”

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Homeland Security Council Urges Nuclear Attack Response Planning

The recently released Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation, developed by the White House Homeland Security Council, stresses that it’s “incumbent upon all levels of government” to prepare “through focused nuclear attack response planning.” Mayors, governors, emergency managers and first responders will be the first to deal with the consequences, and according to that same guidance, “local and state community preparedness to respond to a nuclear detonation could result in life-saving on the order of tens of thousands of lives.”

Ready or Not?, a yearly analysis of preparedness for health emergencies that’s released by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health, found that “surge capacity remains the largest threat to the nation’s ability to respond to a major catastrophe.” Local, and specifically, regional abilities to care for the wounded will be vital just after a nuclear terrorist attack. Unfortunately many communities haven’t gotten the point.

Two assumptions prevail at the local level: 1.) Any nuclear explosion will completely destroy a major city; and 2.) The military is the only organization capable of responding.

These ideas are fueled by Cold War-era memories in which the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union meant thousands of bombs would fall on U.S. cities. However, scenarios involving a nuclear terrorist attack, though horrible beyond comprehension, are not in the same league.

Undoubtedly the federal government would eventually take charge of response efforts and military aid would be required. Yet as overwhelming as it would be for local and state resources, they would be all that’s available in the first hours and days following an explosion.

So what should local officials do?

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Homeland Security Gives NYPD Radiation Detectors

NYPD Radiation Monitor

The US Department of Homeland Security has given three state-of-the-art radiation detectors to the New York Police Department to patrol city streets in search of dirty bombs and other nuclear threats.

The 450,000-dollar worth Advanced Spectroscopic Portal Monitors will be placed in three SUVs on Wednesday at entrances to tunnels, bridges and tollbooths, the Daily News reports.

The detectors had been purchased by DHS’ National Nuclear Detection Office for use at the nation’s ports, but officials concluded they weren’t strong enough to penetrate ship containers, police sources said.

Officials believe they will be able to detect radioactive isotopes emanating from a dirty bomb in the back of a car.

“We think they’ll be useful getting hits on vehicles on the road,” a NYPD official said.

Recently, the department had also purchased 8,000 Dosimeters, pager-sized detectors to be given to police if there is a nuclear attack.

Outfitted in protective gear, officers would use the Dosimeters to find “hot spots” of radiation.

Additionally, sources said the NYPD will station a sophisticated radiation-detecting device at this weekend’s July 4 celebration at the retired battleship Intrepid.

The Thermo is used up to a dozen times a year and is stationed at the main entrance to a sensitive target.

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