Murray, Collins plug holes in port security

Washington Sen. Patty Murray is working to plug a hole in the nation's terrorism defenses that is very close to home. Thousands of cargo-shipping containers move through Northwest ports with the barest of scrutiny.

Raw products and finished goods originate overseas that are vital to the U.S. economy, but they arrive in containers that could be filled with people and material meant to do the nation harm. Security protocols that begin on distant shores are needed to assure adequate safety in U.S. ports. The rub is finding the right mix of precautions to ferret out terrorists and smuggled weapons, while keeping the containers moving across oceans and into the economy.

Murray has teamed with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to propose the GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act. As the senators note, the current cargo-security regime was developed pre-9/11, with an emphasis on efficiency, not security.

The legislation directs the secretary of Homeland Security to initiate specific projects, and, in several cases, finish or refine work already under way: uniform data collection and sharing; container security standards; radiation detection and safety. The tasks are big, and the legislation itself might take three years to pass, by Murray's own estimate.

None of it works without the cooperation of foreign nations and ports, foreign and domestic shippers, and large foreign manufacturers and businesses and their U.S. customers. This is work that cannot be avoided, because the consequences of failure are too great.

One of the grimly realistic portions of the legislation looks at getting trade and shipping back on their feet after a terrorist act. The global tide of trade cannot slow down to open and inspect every container, and every port cannot grind to a halt in the event of a container-based attack.

Murray has a powerful ally in Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. She had been criticized recently for turning homeland security into congressional pork. There is nothing porcine or business-as-usual in securing America's ports.