California Ports to Receive Over $38 Million for Seaport Security
June 10, 2003

Washington, DC - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced today that ports throughout California will receive more than $30 million in seaport security grants and the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will also receive an additional $8.25 million under the Operation Safe Commerce program.

Operation Safe Commerce is a port security initiative developed last year to help the nation's three largest container load centers identify vulnerabilities at every step of the supply chain, from packaging to delivery, and then systematically to improve security throughout the supply chain. In addition, the program will permit potential solutions to improve container security to be tested in an operating environment.

"California is receiving an additional $38 million for port security. This money will be going to a number of localities, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Stockton, Benicia, Martinez, Redwood City, Richmond, and Vallejo," Senator Feinstein said.

Given the demonstrated terrorist threat and the vulnerability of California ports, this money is badly needed. However, I remain disappointed that the Administration is not allocating enough security money to California. Until today's announcement, California ports have received only 15 percent of available port security grant money. In this new round of grants, California ports have received 17.5 percent of the money - only a modest increase."

Senator Feinstein recently sent a letter to Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge, who is in charge of administering the grants, to raise concerns that California ports are not receiving sufficient funds to prevent and respond to a terrorist attack. This letter also expressed strong opposition to suggestions from the Administration that it would undercut or even do away with Operation Safe Commerce. A copy of the letter is available upon request.

About 6 million containers enter the United States every year. About half of all imported containers pass through California ports. But only about 2 or 3 percent are inspected.

"The fact remains that nearly half of all imported containers pass through California ports. That means that there is almost a one-in-two chance that any 'dirty bomb' sent to the U.S. in a container will pass through California. In my view, California's share of seaport security money should reflect this enormous risk to the lives and health of those who live and work around our ports.

Moreover, any terrorist attack on a large California container port would have an enormous ripple effect. A single weapon of mass destruction set off at such a port could not only devastate the California economy but bring the global container industry to its knees and gridlock global commerce."

The $30 million in general seaport security grants for California is from $170 million appropriated for port security grants-$150 million in the FY 03 Omnibus Appropriations Bill and $20 million in the FY 02 Supplemental Appropriations Bill. The $8.25 million the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach comes from $30 million appropriated for Operation Safe Commerce in the FY 03 Omnibus Appropriations Bill.

"The $8.25 million that Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will receive for Operation Safe Commerce is about 29 percent of the money appropriated for this program in the FY 03 Omnibus Appropriations Bill for ports. This money was awarded on a competitive basis by the Operation Safe Commerce Executive Steering Community.

This money is long overdue. Operation Safe Commerce was first funded almost a year ago and the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, without receiving a penny, have already expended a quarter of a million dollars to meet the mandates of the program.

Unfortunately, the $8.25 million was about $4.8 million less than requested. As a result, the ports will have to cut a number of security projects that were to be done with Sandia National Labs and PSA Corporation.

It is surprising that the Administration is failing to fully fund the ports' requests, given the fact that $28 million appropriated for Operation Safe Commerce back in the summer of 2002 remains unallocated and unspent. Instead, the Administration has tried to divert this $28 million and spend it on other programs.

Equally disturbing is that the Administration has also tried to divert another $105 million in seaport security grant funding and use it for other purposes.

In my view, such a diversion would leave us even more vulnerable to terrorist attack. It is hard to believe that the Administration is considering slashing money that has already been appropriated for seaport security when most terrorism experts say that ports remain the gaping hole in our nation's system of defense against terrorism."

###