[House Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
CRUISE SHIP SECURITY PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES
=======================================================================
(110-69)
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
----------
SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
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Printed for the use of the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
CRUISE SHIP SECURITY PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
37-916 PDF WASHINGTON DC: 2007
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COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota, Chairman
NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia, JOHN L. MICA, Florida
Vice Chair DON YOUNG, Alaska
PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin
JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee
Columbia WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland
JERROLD NADLER, New York VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan
CORRINE BROWN, Florida STEVEN C. LaTOURETTE, Ohio
BOB FILNER, California RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas FRANK A. LoBIONDO, New Jersey
GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi JERRY MORAN, Kansas
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland GARY G. MILLER, California
ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina
LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa HENRY E. BROWN, Jr., South
TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania Carolina
BRIAN BAIRD, Washington TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois
RICK LARSEN, Washington TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania
MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts SAM GRAVES, Missouri
JULIA CARSON, Indiana BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania
TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West
BRIAN HIGGINS, New York Virginia
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania
JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida
GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania
DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois TED POE, Texas
DORIS O. MATSUI, California DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington
NICK LAMPSON, Texas CONNIE MACK, Florida
ZACHARY T. SPACE, Ohio JOHN R. `RANDY' KUHL, Jr., New
MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii York
BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa LYNN A WESTMORELAND, Georgia
JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, Jr.,
TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota Louisiana
HEATH SHULER, North Carolina JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio
MICHAEL A. ACURI, New York CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan
HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona THELMA D. DRAKE, Virginia
CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma
JOHN J. HALL, New York VERN BUCHANAN, Florida
STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
JERRY McNERNEY, California
LAURA A. RICHARDSON, California
(ii)
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland, Chairman
GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi STEVEN C. LaTOURETTE, Ohio
RICK LARSEN, Washington DON YOUNG, Alaska
CORRINE BROWN, Florida HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina
BRIAN HIGGINS, New York WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland
BRIAN BAIRD, Washington FRANK A. LoBIONDO, New Jersey
TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York, Vice TED POE, Texas
Chair JOHN L. MICA, Florida
VACANCY (Ex Officio)
JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota
(Ex Officio)
(iii)
CONTENTS
Page
Summary of Subject Matter........................................ vii
TESTIMONY
Bald, Gary, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Security
Officer, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.......................... 51
Carver, Ken, President, International Cruise Victims Organization 27
Dale, Terry, President and CEO, Cruise Lines International
Association.................................................... 51
DiPiero, Sue..................................................... 27
Hernandez, Salvador, Deputy Assistant Director, Criminal
Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation........ 12
Hudson, Lynette.................................................. 27
Justice, Rear Admiral Wayne, Assistant Commandant for Response,
United States Coast Guard...................................... 12
Morgan, Jeff, President and Co-Founder, Family Assistance
Foundation, Inc................................................ 51
Orlich, Angela................................................... 27
Rey, Vicky, Vice President, Reservations Administration, Carnival
Cruise Lines................................................... 51
Ruchelman, Harold................................................ 27
Sullivan, Jr., William M., Partner, Winston and Strawn, LLP...... 27
PREPARED STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Jackson Lee, Hon. Sheila, of Texas............................... 77
Matsui, Hon. Doris O., of California............................. 82
PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES
Bald, Gary....................................................... 85
Carver, Kendall.................................................. 94
Dale, Terry...................................................... 126
DiPiero, Susan................................................... 165
Hernandez, Salvador.............................................. 195
Hudson, Lynnette................................................. 200
Justice, Rear Admiral Wayne...................................... 213
Morgan, Jeff..................................................... 217
Orlich, Angela A................................................. 220
Ruchelman, Harold................................................ 238
Sullivan, Jr., William M......................................... 242
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Sullivan, Jr., William M., Partner, Winston and Strawn, LLP,
supplemental testimony......................................... 256
ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD
Ambassador Cruises, Mary S. Brennan, ECC, NACOA, Legislative
Representative, written statement.............................. 261
American Society of Travel Agents, Cheryl Corey Hudak, CTC,
President, written statement................................... 263
Cruise Planners, Michelle Fee, CTC, CEO, written statement....... 265
Cruise Shoppes, Shawn Tubman, President and CEO, written
statement...................................................... 266
National Business Travel Association, William Connors, Executive
Director and COO, written statement............................ 267
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Eleni P. Kalisch, Vice President
for Congressional Affairs, written statement................... 268
Travel Industry Association, Roger J. Dow, President and CEO;
Travel Business Roundtable, Charles L. Merin, President; joint
written statement.............................................. 323
Vacation.com, Steve Tracas, President and CEO, written statement. 325
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HEARING ON CRUISE SHIP SECURITY PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
House of Representatives,
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 11:00 a.m., in
Room 2167, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Elijah
E. Cummings [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Mr. Cummings. Before I begin, I ask unanimous consent that
Representative Matsui, a Member of the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, may sit with the
Subcommittee today and participate in this hearing and, without
objection, it is so ordered.
I also want to commend Congresswoman Matsui for her
continuing leadership on this issue. In March of this year,
responding to a request made by the gentlelady from California,
I convened the Subcommittee to examine the extent of crimes
committed against Americans on cruise ships.
All cruise ships calling on ports in the continental United
States are registered in foreign nations. American citizens who
travel on such ships are essentially stepping into a little
floating piece of foreign soil, and therefore they are not
afforded the same protection under U.S. law, they would be
afforded in the United States.
Nonetheless, during the hearing I convened in March, we
heard truly poignant and compelling testimony from several
individuals who were either the victims of crimes or safety
incidents on cruise ships or who were the family members of
victims. These individuals explained that given the unique
jurisdictional circumstances of cruise ships, they had
encountered practices, procedures and responses that did not
support the effective investigation or prosecution of their
cases, in some instances, did not even ensure that they
received sensitive and supportive care in moments of great
vulnerability and need.
At the time of the March hearing, the Coast Guard and the
FBI, both of which are joining us on our first panel today, had
just concluded with the cruise lines' international association
known as CLIA a voluntary agreement which sought to define the
processes which cruise ships would follow to report criminal
activity to the FBI and to the Coast Guard.
Today's hearing will give us the opportunity to hear from
the Coast Guard, the FBI and CLIA, their assessments of whether
the provisions of this voluntary agreement are ensuring the
timely and adequate reporting of incidents to United States
authorities.
At the conclusion of the March hearing, I asked the cruise
lines if they would meet with the victims and families of
victims of crimes and incidents on cruise ships to develop
recommendations that the cruise lines could implement on a
potentially voluntary basis to improve passenger safety and
security on these cruise ships, to provide all reasonable
assistance to victims and to support the investigation and
prosecution of alleged crimes.
We will receive an update today from both CLIA and the
victims and families of victims of incidents on cruise ships
regarding the status of these discussions as well as
recommendations on what the next steps should be.
The FBI has informed the Subcommittee that a total of 207
incidents have been reported to it by cruise lines from the
time of the implementation of the voluntary agreement at the
beginning of April through August 24th of this year. The Coast
Guard reports that during that timeframe, nearly 4.4 million
passengers have sailed on cruise line members of CLIA, meaning
that fewer than .01 percent of passengers sailing on the cruise
ships during that time period were involved in incidents
reported to the FBI.
Of the 207 incidents reported to the FBI, the Bureau
reports that 72 incidents are considered potentially serious
violations of U.S. law including 41 sexual assaults, 13
incidents of assault causing serious bodily injury, 13
incidents of theft of items valued at more $10,000, 4 missing
persons and 1 incident in which someone tampered with a ship.
Under the terms of the voluntary agreement, these 72 incidents
constituted the kinds of violations that are to be reported by
telephone.
These are also the incidents that the FBI will consider
investigating, but that does mean that the Bureau will
investigate each of these incidents. In fact, FBI reports that
it opened only 18 case files between April 1st and August 24th,
meaning that many of the incidents that are considered
potentially serious violations of U.S. law were not
investigated by the Bureau though they could have been
investigated by some other law enforcement entity, and in some
cases they were.
The remaining 135 incidents reported to the FBI between
April and August were classified by it as ``other'' incidents,
meaning that they did not constitute the potentially serious
violations of U.S. law that the FBI would consider
investigating. These cases included 41 thefts of items valued
at less than $10,000, 36 simple assaults, 28 incidents of
sexual contact, 2 suicides, 1 death from natural causes and 1
accidental death and 26 other incidents.
The statistics I have just mentioned suggest that cruising
is actually quite safe, though we look forward to assessing the
adequacy of current incident reporting procedures. However,
when an incident occurs, it is our Subcommittee's goal to
ensure that the crime victims have the opportunity to receive
justice.
People taking cruises have paid to be there, and they often
anticipate trips that will be the highlight of their lives.
They deserve to know that if they are victims of crime, there
is a reasonable chance that the perpetrators can be identified
and brought before a legal proceeding and be brought to
justice.
I am also particularly eager to hear from CLIA and the
cruise lines as to what measures they have or will put in place
to ensure that women who are the victims of sexual assault
receive appropriate care to meet both their physical and mental
health needs.
Ms. Brown, in our last hearing, spent quite a bit of time
emphasizing the importance of having women involved in the
processes, and one of the things that the FBI will talk about
is that a number of the cases that they considered or came to
their attention, a substantial number of them, were with regard
to sexual assaults. Such measures must include ensuring that
cruise ships' care teams always include female professional
staff members.
I believe that all sides to this very difficult
circumstance will accomplish the objectives of improving the
security and safety of cruise ships if they approach this issue
with a pragmatic and reasonable attitude. Some of the cruise
lines, which are eager to protect their image and rightfully
so, need to bring an attitude of reasonableness about what they
can do right now to improve security and safety, and improving
safety is certainly the best way they can protect their
corporate interests and image.
I look forward to the testimony of all who will appear
before the Subcommittee today, and I hope that all will
approach this matter with the reasonable and pragmatic attitude
I have just described. I truly want this to be a win-win
process.
I also want to note that in preparing for this hearing, our
Subcommittee spoke to a number of individuals who had
experiences and observations to share about the discussions
that have occurred over the summer and about what they believe
the next steps should be. Many of these victims and family
members of victims shared very personal and profound
observations and deeply wish to testify today.
To all those individuals, I wish to thank you for your
dedication to improving security practices and procedures on
cruise ships to ensure that no one else must endure the
suffering you have endured.
While we were unable to accommodate all the requests of
those who wanted to testify, I invite everyone who was unable
to testify to submit a written statement for the record to
ensure that your words and experiences are part of the record
of these proceedings.
With that, I want to recognize our Ranking Member, Mr.
LaTourette and, Ms. Jackson Lee, you will come after Mr.
LaTourette.
Mr. LaTourette. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for
holding this hearing.
This morning, the Subcommittee is meeting to review the
practices and procedures in place aboard cruise vessels to
secure and safeguard passengers and crew. Now this hearing, of
course, builds upon the testimony that the Subcommittee
received in a hearing held six months ago on these topics.
Each year, more than 10 million Americans vacation aboard
cruise ships. The cruise line industry is an important
component of our national economy and the economy of many
coastal States. It is everyone's interest that actions are
taken to prevent serious accidents and crimes on cruise ships
to the greatest extent possible.
The hearing that this Subcommittee held six months ago
focused on the existing framework of international and U.S.
laws and industry practices that govern safety and security
practices on U.S.-based cruise vessels.
I understand that the Coast Guard, the FBI, the cruise
lines and representatives of several victims groups have worked
over the past six months to review this framework and identify
areas that can and should be improved. I hope to hear more this
morning about the steps that have been taken and those that
will be taken in the future to improve shipboard anti-crime
practices and procedures.
All of us on this panel are committed to doing what we can
to further improve the safety and security of passengers and
crew on cruise ships. The testimony that we will receive from
the witnesses this morning will further assist the Subcommittee
in this process.
I want to especially welcome the DiPiero Family from my
home State of Ohio, a little bit outside my district in
Canfield, for appearing here this morning and for their efforts
to improve cruise ship safety so that other families are spared
the loss that they have experienced.
Again, Chairman Cummings, I want to thank you for your
continued attention to these critical issues and the witnesses
for assisting the Subcommittee with our efforts.
I am particularly interested in some of the comments that I
thought came out of the last hearing relative to evidence
retention and crime scene retention and things of that nature,
how rape kits are processed and the training that goes into
that aboard cruise ships, and I hope that our witnesses will
talk about what, if any, progress has been made in those areas
during their testimony today.
I thank you and yield back.
Mr. Cummings. I just want to amend what I said a moment
ago. We are going to hear from Ms. Brown, and then we will go
to Mr. Mica and then to you, Ms. Jackson Lee.
Ms. Brown.
Ms. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Ranking Member for
holding this hearing today concerning the cruise industry.
I was encouraged by the positive focus of today's hearing,
but I do hope that we are coming to the end of having these
hearings. I was watching television this morning as I was
getting dressed to come up here, and I was watching CNN. It
indicated that we were having this hearing today, and it was on
the crime on the cruise ships. Now that is misleading.
It implied that crime on the cruise ships was higher than
what it is right here in the Capital or what it is in my
district or in your district, and so I think part of it is that
it is misleading.
As a Member from the Florida delegation and representative
of the Port of Jacksonville, I have a particular interest in
the cruise industry. The cruise industry is one of the most
important economic engines in Florida. Over 5 million
passengers embarked from Florida in 2006, and the industry
contributed to more $5.8 billion in direct spending. In
addition, the cruise industry is the second largest employer in
Florida, generating more than 125,000 jobs, and they do so at
the same time for every community that they touch.
I am also a personal fan and have taken several cruises. In
fact, I used to be a travel agent in my real life before I came
here, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, later this year, I
am sending my mother and a group of friends on a cruise. You
need to know that if I felt it wasn't safe in any way, I
wouldn't be sending my mother.
I believe that the cruise industry is committed to
protecting its passengers and providing information about
accidents that occur. It makes sense for the cruise industry to
ensure that their passengers are safe while traveling on
cruises. Unfortunately, crime happens everywhere, but you are
safer on a cruise than you are walking down any major city in
America and to say anything different is misleading.
People also need to take personal responsibility for
themselves and use some common sense when they take on a cruise
and don't leave that common sense when they dock the cruise
ships.
It is important that risks be minimized and the procedures
are in place. I am eager to receive an update from the FBI and
the Coast Guard on the crime reporting procedures that we
discussed and what procedures have been taken and put in place.
I am looking forward to the hearing. One of the points that
I made that I want to know an update on, how many women have
been hired or what procedures are to put women in security and
in medical positions.
So I want to make sure that we have a fair hearing. I want
to make sure that the industry is treated fairly by Congress
and make sure that the victims are treated fairly.
I am here to hear what the witnesses have to say. I want to
thank you again, Mr. Cummings, but like I said, I want to make
sure that we don't send a message to the public that is not
fair to the industry. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. I want to thank you very much, Ms. Brown.
Let me say this. The title of the hearing is CLIA's title.
They asked for this title, and they got it.
As far as testimony is concerned, we have bent over
backwards, and I told CLIA that in my experience as a Chairman,
I have not engaged in not even one-tenth of the conversations
with any witness group than we have with CLIA.
We have tried to work with them. I believe that we have
been extremely fair to present a hearing that is well balanced,
and so I understand.
Any comments that I may have made have been purely neutral
to the press, but I appreciate what you said.
Ms. Brown. Mr. Chairman, I want to point out that I think
you have been extremely fair, and it is not you. But I am
saying when you put this message out and when the media pick it
up, they are looking for the entertainment in it.
Mr. Cummings. I understand.
Ms. Brown. It is not entertaining. It is serious for the
victims, and it is serious for the industry.
Mr. Cummings. I understand.
Let me just say one other thing too which is that the way I
conduct these hearings, and I have said this before. You have
been here a little longer than I have, and I just want to say
this to the Committee.
A lot of people say, well, why do you bring people back?
Having been in Congress now for 11 years, I notice what
happens. You will have a hearing, and then people make
commitments, and then they don't have to worry because they
know that you are not going to bring them back for another two
or three years. So in order to try to get things resolved, and
one of the things that we have tried to do is try to go around
the legislative process and get some things done voluntarily.
To your credit, Ms. Brown, I think you will hear some
testimony about women and the role that women have played, and
it was a direct result of these hearings that that happened.
I think there are a lot of good things that have happened
with regard to the industry. I know everybody will not agree,
but I think that there are a lot of good things. I am just
trying to make sure that we do everything in our power with
this opportunity we have so that we have that win-win
situation.
But I really do appreciate what you have said.
We are very pleased to have now the Ranking Member of the
Full Committee, Mr. Mica.
Mr. Mica. I thank you for holding this hearing.
I want to associate my remarks with Ms. Brown. Ms. Brown
and I come from the State of Florida, and we do have a very
strong, active and vibrant tourism industry in that State. We
also have a responsibility as Members of Congress to make
certain that we do have in place proper cruise ship security
practices and procedures that ensure the safety and security of
those who enjoy tourism in our State.
We don't want the hearing to be a bashing of the industry,
but I think we all have attempted to work together to find some
reasonable things that can be put in place, working with the
industry, that make their cruise experience or tourism
experience safe and that the families enjoy that experience and
feel comfortable that we have taken those steps.
I know we are going to hear from some folks that had some
experiences, incidents and some crimes committed. But, as Ms.
Brown has said, unfortunately we do have that in all aspects of
society.
Looking at what the industry has done, though, and working
with them, I don't think we have seen anybody that is more
responsive or who has put in place more measures to secure the
safety and security of their clients and those who enjoy their
tourist experience. In fact, I don't know of anyone who they
photograph you and have entry and exit counts on their property
and on their boat.
The additional steps that have been taken to screen their
personnel, and screening personnel is difficult for any
employer today, not to mention a cruise ship that is
internationally flagged and enters and exits many foreign
ports.
It is a big business, but we want to make certain it is a
responsible business. I think, to date, if we look at the
statistics of incidents on a cruise ship as opposed to any
other tourist experience or just within our communities, it is
probably one of the safest venues that you can find.
Of course, today we will hear some exceptions to that. I
think we are also looking for any way that we can make that
safe experience even more secure.
I know how important this business is to not just Florida,
but we stop and think of Baltimore, Hawaii or any of these
other places, Texas. I see Members here from different States.
I guess it would be easy for the industry to stop boarding
people at our ports, look at places like Bermuda, offshore and
the Bahamas and the many islands, and not have them board or
enter or be responsible to the United States. That might be a
possible solution for the industry and then ignore us, but I
think it is much better to have them as a viable part of our
economies, easy access for people who want to enjoy that
experience and then also work with them to make it safe.
I hope this can be a productive hearing rather than
destructive.
Finally, I do have one concern. As the ranking Republican,
I am not really pleased with setting a precedent to have people
who are involved in litigation--and we have I see at least one
witness here--and pending litigation, testifying on behalf of
their client here, again with pending litigation. I think that
sets a bad precedent and puts us in an awkward position in this
Committee.
So I take issue with having that particular witness as a
member of one of these panels, but otherwise I do welcome the
opportunity to show the American people and the Congress how
working together with an industry we can achieve some positive
results.
I yield back.
Mr. Cummings. I want to thank the gentleman for his
statement.
Let me just clear up one thing. The witness that you are
talking about was requested by several Members of Congress. One
of the things that has happened is that this hearing has
generated more interest from Members of Congress wanting people
in their district to testify than any hearing that I have been
involved in, and so we basically had to say to many Members
that we just could not accept their witnesses. But I
understand, and I appreciate that.
Ms. Jackson Lee, and then we will get to the others'
opening statements. Thank you very much.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman, Mr. LaTourette, Ranking
Member, let me thank you for your courtesies, first of all, and
thank you for your enormous leadership, not only on these
issues but a number of issues of which you have been on the
frontline of innovativeness and oversight, and I applaud this
Committee.
Thank you again for allowing me to come before you this
morning and to cite comments made by our colleague,
Congresswoman Brown, this is about the victims and certainly it
is about an industry.
I come to address the question maybe as it relates to a
particular incident and procedure, the question of cruise ship
security practices and procedures. I understand that the
purpose of this hearing is to enable the Subcommittee to
receive an update from persons who have been victims or family
members of victims of alleged crimes on cruise ships regarding
potential refinements in procedures for reporting alleged
crimes on cruise ships to U.S. authorities and specific
measures that could be implemented to improve the safety and
security of passengers on cruise ships.
While I agree that procedures for reporting crimes on
cruise ships to U.S. authorities and the measures to improve
the safety and security of cruise ship passengers can be
improved, I am not offering a specific suggestion, I am hoping
to be part of the solution and possibly not part of the
problem.
I come before this Committee to highlight a recent
experience that I have had that involved a tragic incident of a
constituent in my congressional area. That is the late David
Ray Ritcheson.
Many of you know that I have long been one of the House's
strongest advocates for Federal hate crime legislation, and I
am proud to have played a leading role in the passage earlier
this year by the House of H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement
Hate Crimes Protection Act of 2007.
Most of you also know that the late David Ray Ritcheson was
instrumental in passage of this landmark legislation. In a case
that drew national attention, the 16 year old David Ray
Ritcheson, a Mexican American, was severely assaulted in April
23rd, 2006, by two youth while attending a party in the Houston
suburb of Spring, Texas.
One of his teenage attackers, a skinhead, yelled ethnic
slurs and kicked a pipe up his rectum, severely damaging his
internal organs and leaving him in the hospital for three
months and eight days, almost all of it in critical care.
For the supposed crime of allegedly kissing a white girl,
this Hispanic young man was punched unconscious, kicked in the
head, suffered 17 cigarette burns, sadistically inflicted that
scarring on his body. His assailants poured bleach on his face
and body and then assaulted him with a pipe taken from a patio
umbrella. He was left unconscious and unattended in the back
yard of a house for more than eight hours, and he has endured
more than 30 operations. I cite this to show the atrocities he
suffered on land.
After surviving this horrific attack, the young man said
that he was going to live, and so he participated in hearings
before the House Judiciary Committee and indicated in his
concluding words: It has been a blessing to know that the most
terrible day of my life may help put another human face on a
campaign to enact a much needed law dealing with hate crimes. I
can assure you from this day forward, I will do whatever I can
to help make our great Country, the United States of America,
hate free.
This testimony, I think, helped the passage of this
legislation.
As he went on to live his life, he sought to join some
friends from Texas on a Carnival cruise. David Ritcheson went
on that cruise over the July 4th weekend of last year. David
Ritcheson then died this past July 1st of a blunt force trauma
sustained when he jumped from the upper deck of the cruise
ship, Ecstasy owned by Carnival Cruise Lines, while a passenger
on a cruise from Galveston to Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico.
I gave the backdrop of his life experience so that we can
know the trauma that he had gone through, through life.
Cruise staff tried unsuccessfully for perhaps a period of
time to talk him out of jumping from the ship. According to
media reports, at least one of his friends witnessed the
suicide. The ship's captain quickly alerted passengers that the
boat was being turned around to rescue a man who had gone
overboard. The rescue crew recovered David's body later that
morning, and the captain made a second announcement telling
passengers that a man had gone overboard.
I was notified as I reached out to any sources that I could
find to understand what had happened--and I want to qualify and
indicate that this is still ongoing but, quickly, Mr.
Chairman--by Tom Dow, the Vice President for Public Affairs.
We spent the entire day of July 2nd, attempting to
determine what happened, finding how we could bring relief and
response to the parents of David and to work through getting
his body back to the United States. The cruise line provided us
with a care team, provided assistance to David's family,
provided travel arrangements, and I hope these are procedures
that could be reinforced.
None of this is final. We are still in the midst of an
investigation and certainly more answers would come. But I only
offer the fact that this cruise ship and this organization were
intimately involved in helping the parents avoiding the media,
getting them to get on board, getting the medical examiner's
involvement and moving the body to the United States along with
the Mexican Embassy and Consul, so they did not have to stop
midway to Mexico but come back to the United States.
These are procedures that I hope can be reinforced, but I
wanted to share an experience that impacted the victim and the
cruise lines to suggest that we might have a meeting of the
minds of how we can work through some of these tragic
incidents.
I offer my greatest sympathy again to David's family, and I
am grateful, however, for the attention and the extended time
that was spent with us in Houston, trying to work through this
very tragic incident.
I submit my entire statement to the record, and I thank the
Chairman and the Ranking Member for their courtesies.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Oberstar.
Mr. Oberstar. Mr. Chairman, I just want to thank you for
following up on the hearing that you held earlier this year. As
you said, you would stay on top of this issue, and you have
done.
I thank Ms. Jackson Lee.
We really need to get on with the other witnesses.
I have a statement to be included in the record.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you.
Mr. Poe.
Mr. Poe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I appreciate your also having this follow-up hearing. I
have only been here three years, but it has been obvious to me
so many times we have Committee hearings. Then things are said
and promised by witnesses and they disappear into the abyss and
we never find that out again. So I appreciate the follow-up
hearing.
As a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Victims'
Rights Caucus and a former judge in Texas, hearing 25,000
felony cases, I am concerned about what takes place on our
cruise lines. We have a cruise line that goes out of Galveston,
Texas, not far from my congressional district, and we certainly
need to find out and make sure that those cruise ships are
secure.
I am concerned about victims of crime and crime that occurs
on cruise ships. I am sure they are safer than most big cities
in the United States, but it is something we have to deal with
and have to figure out the jurisdictional problems and resolve
the issue because victims of crime certainly need to have a
voice and an answer and to make sure that those cruise ships
are safe.
So, with that, I yield back the remainder of my time. Thank
you.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
I am sorry, Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much. I don't
want you to just sit there. I know we love looking at you, but
I know you have got things to do.
Ms. Jackson Lee. I was ready to answer a litany of
questions.
Mr. Cummings. Oh, I am sorry.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me thank Chairman Oberstar. Let me
thank you very much for your courtesy.
Mr. Cummings. Were there any questions for Ms. Jackson Lee?
I am sorry.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Ms. Matsui.
Ms. Matsui. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I want
to thank you for calling this important and necessary second
hearing, and I look forward to hearing from the cruise industry
as to what steps they have taken to improve their security on
their ships.
I had asked Chairman Cummings to hold a hearing in March of
this year after learning about a young woman from my district
who came to me for assistance after she had been a victim of a
violent crime on February 21st, 2006, on a cruise ship. The
Committee heard from my constituent, Laurie Dishman, at the
first hearing. Laurie is here with us today, and I want to
publicly thank her for her continued and brave efforts to make
sure that no one else goes through what she has endured.
Laurie, thank you very much.
Since our hearing last March, I know that individuals like
Ken Carver and Laurie Dishman have been working hard to secure
a meeting with the cruise industry. While there were seemingly
unnecessary delays and even a few false starts, I was pleased
to learn that the discussions did take place just a month ago
in August. The International Cruise Victims Organization-CLIA
meeting was the first time that there has ever been a
discussion of the various issues concerning cruise lines by an
independent group with a cruise line industry.
I look forward to hearing the reforms the cruise industry
is undergoing based on this meeting. I am particularly
interested in the timeframes for which these reforms will be
enacted and what information is being shared with passengers
about the potential for danger onboard a cruise ship.
As Laurie testified at the last hearing, as a passenger
onboard the Vision of the Seas, a ship operated by Royal
Caribbean, she was raped by a crew member. One of the most
disturbing aspects of Laurie's case is that the cruise ship on
which she was raped was short security staff. As a result, the
cruise line promoted someone with no training to perform
security personnel duties. The tragedy that ensued in something
that Laurie will never forget.
I continue to be concerned about the lack of security
personnel on cruise ships, many of which are essentially
floating cities with thousands of passengers and few security
guards. Similarly, passengers may hear that background checks
are performed on all crew members. However, what Americans do
not understand is that many of these individuals are foreign
nationals and that their countries do not have the same system
in place for background checks as we do.
The story of Laurie's and other victims' experiences are
shocking enough. Unfortunately, most of these victims and their
families continue to experience difficulties after the crime
occurs.
In Laurie's case, she was forced to collect her own
evidence after she departed the ship and experienced difficulty
in getting information about the incident from the cruise line.
Proper evidence collection and victim's assistance after a
crime are important and seemingly missing from cruise ships.
I hope that the cruise industry has worked during these
last six months not only on ways to prevent crimes from
occurring but also on working to take care of victims and their
families after a crime has occurred. The more I have inquired
about crimes on cruise ships, the more I have been alarmed that
there is no shortage of cases of rape, sexual assaults of
minors, alcohol-related fighting and abuse, and persons
overboard.
The last hearing highlighted how crime numbers reported to
Congress dramatically differed from the cruise industry's
internal crime statistics. The cruise industry insists that
they are voluntarily reporting more crimes than they are
statutorily required to. I feel that their actions have been
less than forthcoming. Unfortunately, it seems that without
continued congressional oversight or penalties for
noncompliance, the cruise industry reports what and when they
want to.
We continue to hear media reports of passengers falling
overboard, passengers going missing and passengers being raped
and sexually assaulted. Sadly, many of these cases remain
unresolved because of a lack of security personnel and
standards for crime scene preservation. Worse yet, many cases
go unreported because there is no industry reporting mechanism.
The results of our first hearing combined with numerous
media reports of crimes on cruise ships point to the need for
increased safety and security for these passengers. Prevention
can be an important tool, and prevention begins with making
people aware of the potential for a crime to occur.
There will be 12 million Americans traveling on cruise
ships this year. The industry is growing. With growth comes a
greater responsibility. This is an opportunity for all of us.
Working together, we can and we will improve the safety and
security of Americans who travel on the high seas.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much, Ms. Matsui.
I want to thank all the Members for your opening
statements.
Mr. Bishop, you did not have a statement?
What we are going to do is we are going to recess for
probably about 30 minutes. We have three votes, and we will be
back. You might want to go and get a bite to eat. Thank you.
[Recess.]
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much. We will now resume our
hearing.
Rear Admiral Wayne Justice--is he here--and Salvadore
Hernandez. I guess the Rear Admiral will be joining us
momentarily.
Mr. Hernandez is the Deputy Assistant Director of the
Criminal Investigative Division with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and Rear Admiral Wayne Justice is the United
States Coast Guard's Assistant Commandant for Response.
I want to thank all of you for bearing with us.
Rear Admiral, if you have now caught your breath, you may
proceed.
TESTIMONY OF REAR ADMIRAL WAYNE JUSTICE, ASSISTANT COMMANDANT
FOR RESPONSE, UNITED STATES COAST GUARD AND SALVADOR HERNANDEZ,
DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION,
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
Admiral Justice. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Ranking
Member LaTourette and distinguished Members.
I am honored again to appear before you and to provide an
update on the Coast Guard's role and actions within the
interagency to assess and address concerns about crimes on
cruise ships. I intend to focus my brief remarks on apprizing
you of our progress since March to both clarify and highlight
the scope of mandatory cruise ship crime reporting requirements
and to implement more expansive voluntary reporting of crimes
on cruise ships.
The primary role of the Coast Guard with respect to cruise
ship crime is establishing and facilitating Federal reporting
requirement and procedures in a manner consistent with domestic
and international law to enable notification to and decision-
making by appropriate investigative agencies. By establishing
maritime crime reporting requirements and facilitating delivery
of incident reports through the Coast Guard's network of
maritime command and operation centers, the Coast Guard
supports the FBI in its lead investigative and statistical
analysis roles.
In furtherance of our role, the Coast Guard led a
successful effort this year to ensure national level
interagency and industry alignment regarding the application of
current Federal regulations. In order to facilitate increased
reporting, the Coast Guard worked closely with the FBI and CLIA
through 2006 and early 2007 to reinforce the scope of the
mandatory reporting requirements and to develop voluntary
reporting procedures for serious offenses committed by or
against U.S. nationals aboard cruise ships that are beyond the
scope of the mandatory reporting requirements. This effort
represented the first disciplined attempt to gather serious
crime statistics with respect to cruise ships frequented by
U.S. nationals regardless of whether such vessels call on the
United States.
Given the legal and operational environment that I
described to you when I testified in March, we viewed this
voluntary reporting system as the most promising and viable
option for improving and expanding cruise ship crime reporting
and investigative response in the near term. As expected, many
in the cruise industry reinforced compliance with existing
mandatory reporting requirements and embraced the opportunity
to report and improve responses to serious crimes affecting
U.S. nationals.
Sir, as you mentioned this morning, collectively the Coast
Guard and the FBI have received and processed 207 incident
reports in the first six months of the program. That is 207
reports from the same vessels that carried over 4 million
passengers during the period.
It is the Coast Guard's role to establish reporting
requirements and the FBI's role to determine the appropriate
Federal investigative response in specific cases and compile
crime statistics and policy analysis. Accordingly, I will defer
to the FBI to provide more detailed investigative and
analytical context for the reporting.
From the Coast Guard's overall maritime security
perspective, we have no evidence to suggest that there is
significantly more or more serious crimes affecting U.S.
nationals aboard cruise ships than indicated by the reporting
data.
Based on consultation with the FBI, the Coast Guard
believes that clarifying the scope of the mandatory cruise ship
reporting requirements and implementing additional voluntary
reporting procedures are working well, contributing to improved
situational awareness through transparency and helping to
better inform both the discussion and response with respect to
allegations regarding crimes on cruise ships.
We continue to recommend that perspective cruise ship
passengers assess the level of security and safety on foreign-
flagged cruise vessels on which they may embark just like they
would evaluate their safety and security risks when visiting a
foreign country. Congressional hearings like this help
highlight that responsibility and encourage the cruise ship
industry to embrace transparency in reporting and crime
prevention strategies to remain economically competitive.
It is clear that some serious acts affecting U.S. nationals
aboard foreign-flagged cruise ships have brought great sadness
to the families of victims. The Coast Guard mourns the losses
these families have suffered, and we are committed to improving
the overall safety and security environment within the maritime
domain.
The Coast Guard will continue to work with the FBI to
ensure effective implementation of both mandatory and voluntary
reporting procedures and intervene at sea when appropriate
while recognizing the collective jurisdictional and resource
limitations of the United States. Taken together, the mandatory
reporting regulations and the voluntary reporting requirements
contribute to improving the safety and security of U.S.
nationals aboard cruise ships by leveraging partnerships with
industry and international partners as well as improving
transparency for consumers.
Thanks for the opportunity to testify, sir, and I will be
happy to take questions as they come.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Deputy Assistant Director Hernandez.
Mr. Hernandez. Good afternoon, Chairman Cummings, Ranking
Member LaTourette and Members of the Subcommittee.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to provide an
update on the FBI's work with the U.S. Coast Guard, the cruise
line industry and the victims of cruise line crime regarding
crime aboard cruise ships.
I testified earlier this year that after many months of
development, in March 2007, the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard and
the Cruise Lines International Association, or CLIA, reached an
agreement on voluntary, standardized protocols for CLIA member
lines to report allegations of serious violations of U.S. law
committed aboard cruise ships. These reporting procedures are
in addition to, but not in lieu of, the mandatory reporting
requirements under the Code of Federal Regulations, the
Maritime Operational Threat Response Plan.
Pursuant to the agreement, on April 1st, 2007, the FBI
began collecting and tracking the incidents as they were
reported by CLIA member lines. I would like to take a few
minutes this afternoon to report on the results of this effort.
Through August 24th, 2007, the FBI received 207 reports
from CLIA members. Many of these matters did not require
criminal investigation and, as such, should be viewed as
``incident reports,'' not ``crime reports.'' For example,
reports were received of attempted suicides of passengers as
well as matters with purely civil implications.
Sixteen, or 8 percent, of all reports involved incidents
that occurred while a passenger was ashore outside of the
United States and, therefore, outside the jurisdiction of the
FBI or other U.S. law enforcement. For example, a passenger
reported that he was robbed by two subjects in a vehicle while
ashore in the Bahamas.
In matters such as these, the reporting agreement holds
that although cruise lines may report incidents which occurred
outside the United States' jurisdiction to the FBI, they are
not required to do so.
Of the 207 reports received by the FBI, 39 incidents, or 19
percent, were responded to and/or investigated by law
enforcement other than the FBI. These law enforcement agencies
included local police departments in the United States, as well
as foreign law enforcement agencies.
Nineteen reported incidents occurred while the ship was
docked. In the United States, the respective State has
jurisdiction when a vessel is moored or otherwise connected to
the land of the State. Accordingly, a report of a theft of
items estimated at $30,000, which was stolen while the ship was
docked at Galveston, Texas, was investigated by the Galveston
Police Department.
In further breakdown of the incidents that were reported to
the FBI during the initial rating period, I provide the
following:
The agreement with CLIA and the United States Coast Guard
lists eight categories of incidents which are to be
telephonically reported by CLIA members to the nearest FBI
field office or legal attache office. These matters--homicide,
suspicious death, missing U.S. national, kidnapping, assault
with serious bodily injury, sexual assault, firing or tampering
with vessels and theft greater than $10,000--involve
potentially serious violations of U.S. law and are to be called
into the FBI as soon as possible following the incident.
After telephonic contact, CLIA members are instructed to
follow up with a standardized written report. All other less
serious matters are reported under a general ``other'' category
and are brought to the FBI's attention by submission of a
written report.
During the first month's reporting under the agreement,
there were no reports of homicide, suspicious death or
kidnapping aboard CLIA member ships. There were four reports of
missing U.S. nationals. Of these four reports, one involved a
husband and wife who took most of their belongings with them
and chose not to reboard after docking at a foreign port. The
three remaining reports involved passengers whose past
histories and behavior while on board the ship strongly
suggested that they had taken their own lives.
CLIA members reported 13 assaults with serious bodily
injury. The FBI opened two investigative cases from these
reports, both of which are ongoing. Several matters submitted
in the ``assault with serious bodily injury'' category were, in
fact, of lesser seriousness.
The FBI investigates sexual assaults as defined in Title 18
of the United States Code, Sections 2241 through 2243 and 2244
(a) and (c). Since April 1st, the cruise lines have reported 41
instances of sexual assault. Of these 41 incidents, 19
represented allegations of sexual activity generally
categorized as rape, 3 of which occurred on shore and, thus,
outside the jurisdiction of the FBI.
Based on the 41 reports, the FBI opened 13 investigative
cases. Five of these cases have been closed for reasons of
victim reluctance to pursue prosecution or prosecutive
declination from the United States Attorneys' Office. Eight
investigations are pending.
During the reporting period, there were 13 incidents of
theft of more than $10,000 reported. Nine of these involved
jewelry, two involved cash, one involved miscellaneous items
from aboard ship, and one involved food products.
There was one report of firing or tampering with vessels.
The remaining 135 reports, or 65 percent, of all of them
involved less serious matters such as simple assault, low
dollar loss theft, fraud, suspicious activity, bomb threats,
sexual contact or activity that was criminal in nature.
Sexual contact, as defined in 2244 (b) as, essentially,
uninvited touching of a sexual nature. That made up 28 reports.
Thirty-six of the one hundred thirty-five reports involved
simple assault matters to include punching, slapping or pushing
actions, and forty-one reports were related to theft of less
than ten thousand dollars.
I would like to briefly update this Committee on the other
matters which the FBI has undertaken in support of its role in
investigating crimes aboard cruise ships.
Since I last testified, the FBI has met again with members
of the International Cruise Victims Association. Kendall
Carver, whom you will hear from today, came to FBI Headquarters
in July, accompanied by two members of his group. I met
personally with Mr. Carver and his associates to hear their
concerns and to explain the work being done by the Coast Guard,
CLIA and the FBI.
Over the past six months, my associates at the FBI and I
have met or spoken with CLIA and the Coast Guard regularly to
check on progress.
In closing, the FBI is committed to continuing his work
with the cruise line industry, the U.S. Coast Guard and
victims' groups to ensure full reporting of crimes aboard
cruise ships and to facilitate more effective first response to
such crimes.
Thank you, Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, for
the opportunity to testify today. I am happy to answer any
questions.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
First of all, I want to thank you all for what you all have
done in working with the industry and with the victims' groups.
I realize, believe me, I realize that the Coast Guard and the
FBI have tremendous responsibilities, and I understand that.
The fact that you all would take the time to try to work
through this is much appreciated by all of us. I really do
thank you.
I want to go to you, Deputy Hernandez. In your testimony,
you talked about the 72 cases being serious. How do you decide
which cases are serious?
I think then you went on to investigate 18 open files. How
do you then go on to open a file?
Are you following me? In other words, what do you take into
consideration?
Mr. Hernandez. Chairman, basically, we have defined up
front what we consider serious through the reporting
requirements that we have established with the cruise lines,
and they are, as I said, homicide, serious violation; death, if
it is suspicious in nature; a missing U.S. national is
considered a serious matter; kidnapping, obviously; assault
with serious bodily injury or sexual assault in certain
instances.
This is a product primarily of investigative and
prosecutive thresholds that are driven by resources,
ultimately. We understand that there may be many other
instances of alleged criminal activity which occur aboard a
cruise ship. Cruise ships are invited to report that to us if
they desire, but the truth is only certain kinds of matters
will actually receive investigative attention because of
resources and ultimately will only receive prosecutive
attention if resources are available.
So what we have tried to do is narrow this, making sure
that we get full reporting on the most serious crimes and give
permissive reporting or allow for permissive reporting when the
crimes are not considered as serious.
Mr. Cummings. Now one of the things that I have been very
interested in is, I think, as Mr. Dale mentions in his
testimony about how CLIA is not only concerned about security
but also concerned about the way people are treated.
I realize that you have training program going on basically
about preservation of evidence, is that correct?
Mr. Hernandez. That is correct.
Mr. Cummings. What is the name of that program?
Mr. Hernandez. We currently have in place.
Mr. Cummings. The new one.
Mr. Hernandez. Right, it has just been concluded. It is a
PowerPoint presentation by our evidence response team at
Quantico that will be distributed to all the cruise lines that
will instruct them on crime scene preservation, evidence
retention.
Mr. Cummings. How long is that presentation? How long is
the PowerPoint?
Mr. Hernandez. I have not seen the presentation.
Mr. Cummings. Okay. But this is something, I take it, that
you shouldn't take, I mean if you were guessing, no more than a
day or so.
Mr. Hernandez. I would say far less than a day. I am
guessing it would be a couple of hours.
Mr. Cummings. What is it, on a DVD? What have you got
there?
Mr. Hernandez. It will be available on a DVD.
Mr. Cummings. We would like to have a copy of that. But I
am just wondering, do you think that should be something that
is required of all cruise lines with regard to security?
In other words, part of the complaints coming from Ms.
Matsui and others is this whole idea of evidence and how
evidence is addressed. You can't get a better agency than the
FBI, I think, trying to instruct security, boat security, CLIA
security as to how to preserve that evidence because once that
evidence is disposed of or tampered with, a case, even if you
had a case, is kind of difficult to prosecute.
So I am just wondering, what is your opinion on that and
have you had any discussions with the CLIA folk with regard to
that?
Mr. Hernandez. We haven't had recent discussions. We did
talk earlier in the year, actually probably last year when we
first began the process.
The CLIA members, as represented by those that attend their
CLIA headquarters' meetings, were very interested in this. They
have repeatedly asked for training from the FBI, and I would
guess other law enforcement agencies.
So it is available. It will be available, and my guess is
that CLIA members will want this training and will put it to
use.
Mr. Cummings. Now how soon, if you know, will that be
available to them? It sounds like it is hot off the press.
Mr. Hernandez. My understanding is that it has been
completed, so it should be anytime.
Mr. Cummings. All right.
Rear Admiral, let me ask you this. The incidents reports
that you receive, are they ever made available to the public?
Admiral Justice. No, sir. I guess they could be FOIable.
Mr. Cummings. But they are not now, is that right?
Admiral Justice. That is correct.
Mr. Cummings. In your testimony, you write that: ``We
continue to recommend perspective cruise ship passengers assess
the level of security and safety on foreign-flagged cruise
ships on which they may embark just like they would evaluate
their safety and security risks when visiting a foreign
country.''
Do you recall that?
Admiral Justice. Yes, sir.
Mr. Cummings. If they don't have the information, other
than word of mouth, I guess, recommendations, how are they
supposed to do that, accomplish that?
Admiral Justice. There are a couple of different ways. The
State Department has information about other countries that
would be of interest, and they post that.
But, specifically, the cruise ships have stepped up. Cruise
lines have stepped up, and they have information available
about where they are going and what concerns you might have. I
think there has been an effort by the cruise lines to
articulate more awareness, particularly if you are going to do
an excursion in another country or what is going to happen on
your ship. They are making it available to the public.
Mr. Cummings. Perhaps Mr. Dale could address that because
part of the problem, in fairness to both sides, is the cruise
industry is concerned that putting out this information to the
public may send the wrong message.
On the other hand, when I read your statement, I am talking
about incidents that would fall within the jurisdiction of what
you and the FBI do together. I am not talking about other
things that may happen on land or whatever while a person is on
a cruise.
But I think that perhaps if there was a way that they could
know, have some kind of idea, they could make those kinds of
judgments. When I read your statement, it just jumped out at
me, and I was trying to figure out how they would accomplish
that.
I am not just talking about threats, problems in a country,
where there are security risks and things of that nature. I am
talking about the cruise ship itself, the line itself. Are you
following me?
Admiral Justice. I do. Again, I would expect Mr. Dale to
answer that there for a preventive side. It is a preventive
piece here to be aware of where you are at, what you are doing,
the condition you are doing it in, those sorts of things. As we
all know, we don't always have our situational awareness up
when we are at some place and particularly in a different
environment on a ship like that. I think that is where they
would go with this.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Hernandez, are there any specific
security or safety improvements that you believe that cruise
ships should implement at the present time to improve passenger
safety and security? If so, what are they, from what you have
seen?
Mr. Hernandez. Mr. Chairman, we really haven't assessed
what it is cruise ships do. We have been, since the beginning
of this process, more interested in working with them about how
it is they report information under what circumstances. We have
had general discussions. So I am really not in a position to
make that kind of judgment today.
Mr. Cummings. I got you. I understand.
All right, Mr. LaTourette.
Mr. LaTourette. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank both
of you for your testimony.
I want to talk a little bit about this agreement and how it
is working based upon your observations and then follow up on
some preservation of evidence questions that the Chairman was
talking about.
This agreement has been described as a voluntary agreement
between CLIA members and the Government. What I take from that
is, either or both of your opinions, that there is no provision
currently in law that could have compelled them to make this
agreement, that it is something that they voluntarily chose to
enter into.
Admiral?
Admiral Justice. There are mandatory requirements that are
regulated. The effort was made to look at where there are holes
above that aren't regulated, and this voluntary construct fills
in those gaps, those holes. So now we feel that crimes that
should be reported are being reported. The good news is that it
is happening.
Mr. LaTourette. Right. Is it your observation that this
agreement, I know that it is new, but it seems to be working
well?
Admiral Justice. Yes, it is. It is working well, and we
feel. I would use the point that we don't have instances of
crime being public or aware to us that haven't been reported.
So that is good news.
Mr. LaTourette. The other thing, the thing that strikes me
about the agreement is that the reporting requirement is as
soon as possible. I understand that reporting is happening, 207
or whatever the number is. Has either the Coast Guard or the
FBI determined whether or not they are being reported in a
timely fashion in the spirit of the agreement?
Admiral Justice. We feel they are.
Mr. LaTourette. Mr. Hernandez?
Mr. Hernandez. Yes, as soon as possible means by telephone,
and our experience has been that the cruise lines are
telephonically contacting the nearest FBI office or legal
attache office.
Mr. LaTourette. The Chairman was talking about evidence
preservation, and I think one of the things that was alarming
about Ms. Matsui's constituent was the notion that you had to
collect your own evidence.
Mr. Hernandez, I heard what you said about the DVD
presentation or the presentation that is now going to be
distributed for people to be instructed on preservation, but
have you either talked to or you personally had the opportunity
to view any of these open files that you talked about?
For instance, I think that there are 13 open files on rape
cases or serious sexual assault cases. Have you talked to any
of the case agents or yourself looked at those?
Mr. Hernandez. No, I have not. Those cases, of course, are
in our field offices. I have a sense from discussions from some
of the people at headquarters what those are about, but I
haven't reviewed the files.
Mr. LaTourette. Well, my question is do you, from your
sense, have any sense as to whether or not, while we are all
waiting for this evidence collection instruction going out, as
to whether or not the cruise line industry is doing a good,
decent job of evidence collection at this moment in time?
Mr. Hernandez. I don't know that. I take it from what I
have seen that there is sufficient evidence in some of these
cases to move forward with a prosecution, with an investigation
or prosecution. I can't say with certainty in what percentage
of those cases evidence was properly collected at the very
beginning.
Mr. LaTourette. You talked a little bit about the fact that
some of the cases have been declined for prosecution by the
United States Attorney. Are you aware of any of those
prosecutorial declinations being based upon the fact that
evidence was poorly collected?
Mr. Hernandez. I am not aware of any being declined on that
basis.
Mr. LaTourette. Okay.
The other thing that we sort of got into and I think the
folks from CLIA are going to talk about it a little bit later,
obviously, in an allegation of serious sexual assault or rape,
it is very important that the rape kit or the pelvic
examination be performed professionally. Have either of you
worked with or asked the question of the cruise line industry
as to whether or not their personnel are trained and have the
ability to properly administer those examinations after an
allegation is made?
Mr. Hernandez. I have not. We have not.
Mr. LaTourette. Admiral, anything?
Admiral Justice. No, sir, I can't answer that question.
Mr. LaTourette. Okay. I think we will wait for them to talk
a little bit about that.
Are you aware as to whether or not the cruise line industry
has protocols relative to the collection of evidence?
Mr. Hernandez. I am not aware of the protocols. I believe
that there are standard operating procedures in place with
respect to each cruise line. I think they will be able to
answer that.
Mr. LaTourette. Okay.
Then the last question would be on this voluntary agreement
business with the reporting that you describe is going well. If
this agreement of timely reporting, as soon as possible
reporting continues to go well, in your opinions, either of
you, does it enhance the ability of law enforcement to make
judgments as to when to enter a case quicker than it would have
if we didn't have this voluntary agreement in place?
Do you think we are going to see a positive impact in terms
of prosecution for those cases that are real cases?
Mr. Hernandez. I think we will, and I will make one
observation about the voluntary reporting. The issue here has
been for many months now the difference, the distinction
between what is our jurisdiction and what is required to be
reported. The voluntary reporting mechanism was established
because, in truth, the cruise lines came to us and said we
would like to be able to report more. We would like some rules
about how we report.
There has been, I think, a good faith interest from the
very beginning to establish some procedures that would allow
them to report beyond what was required under CFR regulations.
So that has worked well.
My belief is that because we have about as many cases
proceeding to prosecution given a five month period compared to
what we have had over the last five years, that we have about
as many crimes being reported that we did before. Now before,
we didn't know because we were only capturing those cases that
actually were opened as investigations by the FBI.
My sense is that the cruise lines have probably been
reporting at about the same rate all along. Now it is just
standardized.
Mr. LaTourette. Admiral, is there anything you want to say
in response?
Admiral Justice. No, exactly what my partner says, sir.
Mr. LaTourette. Thanks very much.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Cummings. Before we get to Ms. Matsui, let me just ask
you this, Deputy Hernandez.
The DVD, I know you haven't reviewed it, but is it likely
to contain protocol? I mean just following up on the Ranking
Member's question.
In other words, the DVD tells them how to preserve
evidence. Would you consider that some type of protocol that
they might adopt or do you think that it is just some general
information? Do you follow what I am saying?
Mr. Hernandez. Yes. Yes, we would like to be able to
provide onsite training, FBI agents training cruise ship
personnel. We simply don't have the resources to do that in
great numbers, so the DVD is the next best option.
I believe that, and again I haven't seen it, but my
instructions in moving this forward were to put together
protocols, guidance about how to collect evidence and preserve
crime scenes. So my belief is that it does just that and that
these will be accepted by the cruise lines as part of their
standard operating procedure.
Mr. Cummings. I take it these are the same kinds of
instructions that you, that FBI agents would likely have to go
by. I mean they are at a different level of law enforcement,
but it would be the same things that they would be looking for
as agents, is that right, in other words, preservation issues?
Mr. Hernandez. Generally speaking, we would like in the end
to preserve crime scenes and collect evidence as FBI agents
wherever possible. My guidance has been to preserve primarily,
to preserve a crime scene, so evidence can be collected by true
collection professionals, but I am sure that there will be some
guidance there that explains how to deal with evidence that
simply could be dissipated if not collected quickly.
Mr. Cummings. I see. Thank you very much.
Ms. Matsui.
Ms. Matsui. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank both of you for working together on this. I
know that it hasn't been a very long time, and you have had to
bring yourself up to speed on processes.
I wanted to know, Admiral Justice, since the Coast Guard is
in charge of overseeing the reporting requirements for the
cruise line industry, I think part of the problem is that there
is no mechanism to get this out to the public. You mentioned a
couple things. The State Department has some things about how
different things are happening in different countries, and the
cruise lines themselves have information.
But I believe that what we have here is a situation where
there is a lack of trust, and the Coast Guard is certainly an
institution that we trust. Is there a way that we can get some
of that information available to the public? What kind of
mechanisms do we need to work out in order for that to happen?
Admiral Justice. Ma'am, I go back to what I said before. I
truly believe that the cruise ship industry, it is in their
best interest, if there is a way to do things better, they are
going to do it. If there are better ways to have processes on
ships for people to do things, that is safer, it is in their
best interest to do that.
As far as reporting this information, it is not available.
I would submit that we would be happy to work with industry
talk about. Of course, they have the same information we do,
but what might they do more to help better inform their
passengers?
Again, I wouldn't be so--I mean I am absolutely positive
that not only is it in their best interest but they have
demonstrated the commitment to doing that, to working to make
things as safe as possible and to construct processes that
support that.
Ms. Matsui. I believe you understand, though, that we are
here at this hearing because the victims didn't believe that
they had adequate information, and they also believe too that
the picture presented about the cruise industry, the things you
see on television or the brochures you get in the mail. It is
perfectly safe, everybody is having a great time and, in a
sense, it lulls you into thinking that there is no crime on
board at all. You can bring your families and your young kids
and have them go off on their own.
We understand. Yes, you should have some idea that it is
like everywhere else, but that is not presented by the cruise
industry. I think, in a sense, we need to really understand
that things have happened. Bad things have happened, and we
really need to understand that we need to not just trust the
cruise industry.
I know we want to work together. I also believe too that it
is in their best interest to do this. However, we almost need
another party to be a part of this too, to work together, to
get a neutral party involved in this to get some crime
statistics out there.
It is not that we are going to say that it is perfectly
unsafe. No, we are not going to do that.
But I remember the hotel industry a couple decades back
when there was a lot of media frenzy about the unsafe hotels,
how women were having difficulties, and I think that they have
improved so much that I really believe that there is an
opportunity here for us to get beyond this, but we still need
to understand what is the real story. At this point in time, I
can't trust that it is the real story.
Admiral Justice. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
What I would say is the information is available through
the Freedom of Information Act. Information could be published
by the cruise industry or by us. But I will tell you that I
take your point and we will talk to them, work with them and
make sure we do better to paint the proper picture.
Ms. Matsui. I also believe that you really need to be
talking with the victims too because they have actually gone
through some of this and understand the situation that they
have been put into.
I understand that the Coast Guard puts in lines' safety
violations in a database called PSIX, is that right?
Admiral Justice. Yes.
Ms. Matsui. Why doesn't the Coast Guard put online from
each reportable crime on the cruise line? Can we do that?
Admiral Justice. Different safety, security, a different
venue. We could. We don't do it right now. We don't want to do
it.
Ms. Matsui. But we could do something like that, is that
what you are saying?
Admiral Justice. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Matsui. Okay.
Admiral Justice. I had to check with my barrister to make
sure. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Matsui. All right. Well, I will follow up on that
later.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Admiral Justice. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you.
Mr. Coble.
Mr. Coble. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Admiral, the gentleman from Ohio may have touched on this.
Let me put a three-part question to you.
Are cruise ships required to report crimes (a), (b), if so,
to whom are they reported, and (c) does the cruise industry
comply with these reporting requirements?
Admiral Justice. The answer is yes, sir, they are required
to report certain crimes, and they report them to the Coast
Guard and the FBI, and they do do it.
Mr. Coble. Does the United States have the authority to
require foreign-flagged vessels or cruise ships to carry aboard
Federal marshals?
Admiral Justice. Sir, the answer is no.
Mr. Coble. Do you think we should?
Admiral Justice. No, sir. That is an extraordinarily
complicated, multi-jurisdictional international rule of law
challenge that could be explored through the International
Maritime Organization. It would take a very complex multi-year
effort. It could be looked at.
It is a private industry, cruise ship responsibility, and I
know two panels from now they are going to step up there and
tell you that they accept that responsibility and they do. I
think they do extraordinary efforts to properly secure their
vessels.
Mr. Coble. Mr. Hernandez, this may be more appropriately
put to you. How does the Federal Government respond when
receiving a report of an allege crime or accident?
Mr. Hernandez. First, we look at what has been alleged. If
it meets one of the criteria as a serious violation, we are
going to respond. Whatever form that may take depends. That
means going to the ship, collecting evidence, taking
statements.
Mr. Coble. Would the track usually go from the cruise ship
to the Coast Guard to the FBI? Would that be the normal
pattern?
Mr. Hernandez. No. By virtue of this agreement, any of
those kinds of alleged violations would be reported to us at
the same time as the Coast Guard. They would be called into us.
Mr. Coble. Okay, it would be simultaneously reported.
Mr. Hernandez. Yes.
Mr. Coble. Again, I want to follow the pattern here,
Admiral. Can passengers make reports of alleged crimes or
accidents or the occurrence of accidents directly to the United
States, i.e., Coast Guard or FBI or does the process require
that they go through the vessel security officer?
Admiral Justice. There is no requirement to go through the
vessel's security officer. They can make the complaint or bring
to our attention the issue.
Mr. Coble. Thank you, gentleman, for being with us.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. LaTourette. Mr. Coble, will you yield the balance of
your time to me?
Mr. Coble. I will indeed.
Mr. LaTourette. I thank you very much.
Admiral, I wanted to follow up on what counsel has brought
to my attention. In your testimony, you have a statement that
foreign-flagged cruise ships that visit a U.S. port would be
required to comply with reporting requirements as a de facto
condition under port State control.
My question is: Is this something that is new? Have the
captains of the port been instructed of this policy? Has the
Coast Guard ever denied entry to a vessel for failure to report
and what would be the penalties for that?
Admiral Justice. Yes, sir. We have not. We have never not
allowed entry. It is civil. It is a civil penalty that could be
affected. I don't have the exact details of what they are, but
the answer is it is new. Yes, we could penalize them, but no
one has been denied entry because of that at this time.
Mr. LaTourette. It being a new initiative, have the
captains of the port been instructed on the new initiative?
Admiral Justice. Yes, sir.
Mr. LaTourette. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you.
Just one last two or three questions, Deputy Hernandez, let
me ask you this. I note from the FBI report, it says of the 18
cases open, 13 were alleged sexual assaults. When you are
dealing with a sexual assault, are there certain preservation
issues that come up that are different, say, from other crimes,
preservation of evidence issues?
Mr. Hernandez. Well, it depends on the other crimes you are
speaking of. The FBI has very broad jurisdiction, but when we
discuss personal crimes that the FBI might investigate,
certainly rape kits are critically important, that that be done
forthwith, that evidence be collected properly. So, yes, there
are special requirements.
Mr. Cummings. Say, for example, in rape cases that you get
the report, you have 18 files open. Thirteen of them are sexual
assaults, and we don't know. I don't know the extent of them,
but I am sure a lot of them know the extent of them. But let us
assume there is a rape case in there of the 13. I mean this is
kind of significant. You open 18; 13 of them are sexual
assaults.
I guess what I am trying to figure out, and you may have to
answer this in writing if you don't have the answer, is that
are there issues, are there things that the cruise industry
should be doing to make those cases more likely to have
positive prosecutions? That is what I am concerned about here,
and that is why I was asking about the training, this DVD, and
exactly how that plays into all of that.
This is a very sensitive issue. I am not a woman as you can
see, but I am concerned about that issue because I think if you
tell me 13 of your 18 open cases are sexual assault, I would
bet everything I have got that they were probably mostly women
victims, if not all.
I think maybe that is something that we need to really make
sure is tight with regard to just not the reporting, we want
prosecutions, and I think the industry wants prosecutions too.
The last thing they want is somebody assaulting women on their
ships.
So, perhaps we can get you some written information. I
understand that you have got open cases. Maybe you all can give
us some information on things that have been closed.
Mr. Hernandez. Sure.
Mr. Cummings. But I don't want to interfere with anything
that is ongoing. I just want to make sure that we are doing
everything that we can to provide the FBI and other agencies
because it may not even be the FBI--it may be other law
enforcement agencies that may be involved--that they get
everything that they need to be able to do what they have to
do. That is all.
Mr. Hernandez. I understand your concerns, Mr. Chairman. I
will say that within this area, we view very seriously these
kinds of assaults, and it is one of the reasons there are so
many open cases. Of the 18, 13 are sexual assaults, and that is
because we take that seriously and the prosecutors take it
seriously. So there is no effort to walk away from that in any
way, shape or form.
The remaining five cases are of a serious nature, but I
think are on par with those sexual assaults. And so, I just
want to give you an assurance that we do take that very
seriously, and we do want the cruise lines to do everything
they can to provide the best evidence to us.
Mr. Cummings. Do you know, with regard to crew members when
it comes to these assaults, how many are alleged to have been
committed by crew members?
Mr. Hernandez. I don't have numbers. I know that some of
them do involve crew members.
Mr. Cummings. Do you have any knowledge with regard to how
these crew members are vetted?
Mr. Hernandez. I do not.
Mr. Cummings. Very well.
Anybody else?
Ms. Matsui.
Ms. Matsui. How many agents do you have, Mr. Hernandez, on
cruise line cases?
Mr. Hernandez. There is no number per se. They are agents
that work within our violent crime program. So each field
office has a certain number of violent crime program agents.
When a case meets the qualifications, an agent is assigned.
So it could be anywhere from a small number to a large number
depending on the number of crimes alleged.
Ms. Matsui. So the type of crimes that they are all
involved in, are they similar types of crimes as far as in the
unit that you are talking about that they are involved in?
Mr. Hernandez. Well, they could be anything from a homicide
to an assault with serious bodily injury to a sexual assault to
a firing to an arson, whatever it might be.
Ms. Matsui. Okay. I appreciate the Chairman's questions
regarding sexual assault and the follow-up to it as far as
preserving the crime evidence.
As a woman, there have been so many instances--forget about
the cruise industry--of sexual assaults. Women, because of the
very nature of that, don't come forward at all, and it is very
difficult for them. I think we are getting to the point now, I
hope, that women are coming forward, difficult as it is.
I think there is a protocol established, particularly here
in this Country, and there is an expectation obviously with all
these Americans going on cruise lines, that you would have the
same type of protocol. I know that Laurie Dishman expected
that, and it was not only that there was no protocol but the
fact that the people who were actually in charge of a medical
unit weren't even there.
So I think, in a sense, I have to look at this and say a
PowerPoint, a DVD to me is not enough. It might be if in fact,
and I believe both of you when you say the cruise industry
understands and really wants to make things right here. I think
we have to go a step further with the cruise industry in a
sense that we need to have onsite training. It might therefore
be the cruise industry bringing in people.
It is a very sensitive area. In the case of Ms. Dishman,
she didn't have anybody at all. She had to collect her own
evidence. She was lying there for I don't know how many hours,
waiting.
I just feel that a DVD isn't going to do it. There is going
to have to be other training to actually make the people on the
ship aware of what they need to do. I think once you do that, I
think all the other aspects of it will fall into place much
more easily. So that is my comment.
I really do appreciate the Chairman and his questioning on
that regard. I just hope that it is possible for you to work
with the cruise industry, and maybe we might suggest to them
that. I know your resources are limited, but in a sense if
there is at least some onsite training where you have a lot of
people together to train people, it would be great.
Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. As we move to the next panel, let me just say
this to Ms. Matsui. I do know that for the cruise industry, I
think it is Mr. Bald will be testifying, who is a former FBI
agent, and he is now doing some security. He will tell you
exactly what he does when he testifies.
But I am just wondering if maybe the cruise industry would
consider possibly, since you are already reaching to former FBI
agents, perhaps find ways to incorporate that training in what
you do. It seems like you have already got superstars on board.
It seems like you would just use them along with the DVD. I
hope they will take that into consideration.
Thank you all very much. We really do appreciate your
testimony. Thank you.
We will now call Ken Carver who is President of the
International Cruise Victims Organization, Ms. Sue DiPiero, Ms.
Lynette Hudson, Ms. Angela Orlich and Mr. Harold Ruchelman.
I am sorry. I didn't mean to leave you off. I was wondering
why there was an empty chair over there.
We are going to ask you to stay within the five minutes
because we have another panel, and I know there will be a
number of questions.
Mr. Carver, thank you very much for being with us and thank
you for your leadership.
TESTIMONY OF KEN CARVER, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL CRUISE
VICTIMS ORGANIZATION; SUE DIPIERO, LYNETTE HUDSON; ANGELA
ORLICH; HAROLD RUCHELMAN; WILLIAM M SULLIVAN, JR., PARTNER,
WINSTON AND STRAWN, LLP
Mr. Carver. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
We have had a series of meetings, so it is difficult to
cover it in five minutes, but we will go through it as quickly
as we can.
It was just three years ago today that I was looking for a
daughter who was missing, one of my four daughters, and found
out after months of investigation that she had been subject to
a cover-up by a major cruise line concerning her disappearance.
As a result of that, a group was founded called
International Cruise Victims. This group now has members in 15
countries, several hundred members and has, I guess you would
say, brought this issue to the forefront.
Through their individual experiences, victims soon realized
acting on their own was ineffective. You had to do this as a
group.
In the March, 2006 hearing, not only did we testify but we
presented a 10-point program. At the last congressional
hearing, the Chairman asked for what I think was an historic
meeting, that the victims group meet with the cruise lines to
discuss these various issues.
I would like to discuss very quickly four meetings that we
have had since our last hearing. On May 7th, Son Michael Pham
and myself met with Terry Dale to establish the guidelines for
the meeting.
On July 25th, we initiated a meeting with the FBI here in
Washington, D.C. It was held with Salvador Hernandez, Deputy
Assistant Director, and John Gillis who is the director of the
Violent Crime Division. The purpose was to review the agreement
that they entered in March, 2007.
Both FBI representatives were unaware in that meeting that
in 1999 the cruise line industry had entered into a policy of
zero tolerance for crimes and were required or voluntarily
indicated that they would report all crimes. This new agreement
was only dealing with a form in which those crimes would be
reported.
Of most significance at that meeting was the fact that the
FBI indicated they did not have the resources, which they have
said today, to follow up on crimes on cruise ships unless it
reached certain thresholds. This is why, in 2005, only 50 cases
were opened and there were only 4 convictions of cruise ship
crimes in a year in which they had approximately 10 million
passengers.
In the summer of 2006, knowing that they were working with
CLIA, the Coast Guard and the FBI, three ICV officers came to
Washington and met with the FBI and the Coast Guard separately
to show them the plans that we developed, indicating that we
wanted to be part of that. In fact, we were excluded from those
discussions.
On July 6th, 2007, I sent a request to the Coast Guard to
enter into the same type of meeting we had with the FBI. They
never acknowledge the letter until the morning of July 27th
when it was too late to schedule the meeting.
On July 26th, we had our first formalized and only meeting
with CLIA. We actually had sent them 60 pages of documents on
April 15th, and we didn't have our first meeting, I am sorry to
say, until July 26th.
Certain information which we provided to the cruise lines
at that time, and I have heard the questions asked today was
were there data individually and how did these crimes occur.
Based upon court released documents from Royal Caribbean from
the year 2003 to 2005, close to 80 percent of these crimes
involved crew members. I believe that question was asked
earlier, and it is in the documents that I provided to the
Committee.
Also the rate of sexual assaults was 50 percent greater on
cruise ships than on the average American city. That is from
the court documents covering several other cases.
The cruise lines also took the position that they do not
investigate crimes. That is their legal position. That
information is in the material that I have given to you.
Since the FBI has indicated they do not have the resources
to follow up on many of these crimes, in effect, no one is
looking or taking action on these crimes. I think that is a
major problem.
We just discussed the video surveillance, that the cruise
ships like to say we have 300 cameras on a ship but, number
one, they are not monitored. In the documents that I have
submitted, we show a deposition that occurred in my daughter's
case in which they indicated that was privileged information
and not available to us.
James Walker, who is on our committee, indicated that in 50
cases he has never been able to get to the videos. Only in a
couple of cases and one is sitting right next to me, Sue
DiPiero, where they had her son going overboard, did they show
that video, and I am aware of one other case. But they have
evidence that nobody can get to.
We approached this meeting with a positive attitude, and
when it adjourned I honestly felt that both organizations had
set the stage for future positive discussions.
Here is what Terry Dale said in a letter to me: I believe
it is fair to say that the cruise lines agree in concept with
ICV but differ in how best to achieve the end results. We,
therefore, look forward to continuing our discussions with ICV
in an effort to reach our shared common goals.
Mr. Chairman, you set an historic meeting in place, and we
feel it is essential to continue these discussions between ICV
and CLIA to understand what their alternatives are that they
are proposing. We don't know that their alternatives are.
Prior to the above meetings, on June 25th, they sent out a
letter that was addressed to cruise passengers and their
families. It was an expense paid trip to Miami to talk about
issues regarding victims and how to address that.
In early July, I started receiving, I guess you would,
tremendous pressure to invite the members of ICV to that
meeting. So I wrote CLIA, Terry Dale.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Carver, I am going to have to ask you to
kind of summarize.
Mr. Carver. Okay.
Mr. Cummings. We have your testimony. I know we have read
it. I have read it, and we will have some questions of you. But
why don't you summarize by telling us where you and what you
expect?
Mr. Carver. Okay. Well, I will just say this. The August
14th meeting, we were given no information. We went, and it
targeted only ICV members and yet, they have hundreds of
victims. We were disappointed that they would only select our
members.
So, in summary, I sit here today as President of
International Cruise Victims. I have lost a daughter and for
all the victims and their families. You and the Government and
the U.S. Congress, I am sure would like to have families,
parents, wives, husbands and children, and you would not like
to encounter the tragedies we have encountered. We deserve to
be protected.
We thank you for your time. I will be happy to answer
questions.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much, Mr. Carver.
Ms. DiPiero.
Ms. DiPiero. Good afternoon. I would like to thank Chairman
Cummings and the Committee for inviting me to testify today.
I am Sue DiPiero. I am here with my husband, Ron. Our son
was lost at sea from Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Sea.
Following the hearing last March, Ken Carver approached
CLIA and proposed a meeting. It was set up by Ken to include an
expert panel consisting of attorneys, Ross Klein, a few ICV
board members and CLIA. No other victims were invited. The
focus of this meeting was a 10 point plan.
Meanwhile, Terry Dale, Gary Bald and Kimberly Edwards from
the ICV discussed what Congressman Cummings' order meant. It
was confirmed through his office that the cruise lines should
meet with all victims and get our ideas.
On June 25th, an invitation was sent out by CLIA for a
meeting in Miami. This invitation was sent to Ken Carver,
asking him to forward it to the members of the ICV. It was not
forwarded until August 6th. Due to the short notice, some may
not have been able to attend.
Invitations were sent to other victims with whom the cruise
lines had contact, and it was immediately forwarded to Ron and
myself by Kimberly Edwards at Gary Bald's request.
On August 14th, we joined 18 victims, representatives of
CLIA, the Family Assistance Foundation, Royal Caribbean and
Carnival cruise lines. Some victims told their stories and
offered suggestions that would improve the safety on cruises
and treatment of victims and their families. Ron and I each
spoke and handed out a list of our ideas.
The ICV had time to speak. Ken gave a presentation of the
10-point plan. Letters were read, one from an ICV member who
could not attend and one from the ICV board asking that CLIA
deal only with the ICV board in the future. I spoke with Terry
Dale and was assured that all victims would be included in
future correspondence and meetings.
Gary Bald and Travis Winslow discussed technology and
safety features that they were researching. They also discussed
improved security training. Terry Dale concluded the meeting by
saying that he felt that the day's discussion was helpful and
suggested continued conversations with victims in the future.
He also suggested working groups be formed. Terry Dale has
begun organizing working groups. He asked the victims that
attended the meeting if they would like to be included. As of
yet, we are not sure what being part of this group means.
No promises or proposals were made in Miami by CLIA or the
cruise lines as far as safety is concerned. It is in my nature
to believe that people will do the best thing, but there are no
signs that the industry will do their best to protect their
passengers. The working group should be a channel for sharing
ideas and brainstorming, but unless the idea results of the
working groups become the goals of action groups that
implement, they are nothing more than an illusion by the
industry to appear to be making change.
The subject of expense comes up when discussing safety. The
goal of every business is to show the maximum profit. The
decision to make change is in the hands of the people who
control the purse strings. Unless it becomes more profitable to
make ships safe than to settle lawsuits, all of the necessary
changes will not come at the hands of the industry.
I believe we should support bill H.R. 2989. This would
change the Death on the High Seas Act to allow non-pecuniary
and punitive damages to families of a person who has died at
sea while aboard a ship. Congress has deemed the DOHSA limits
unfair in the context of aviation cases and removed the
limitation of damages that previously applied.
It makes no sense to limit damages to surviving families in
a wrongful death when the death happens to be at the high seas
on a ship. Why is there different treatment for survivors of
maritime accidents and survivors of a plane crash?
In the cases of my family, George Smith's, Annette
Mizener's and Merrian Carver's families and others involved in
death at the high seas, the cruise lines used DOHSA to limit
their responsibility. This thwarts the goal of our tort system
which is full compensation to survivors. If full compensation
is allowed, the cruise lines will improve safety in order to
prevent liability. Currently, DOHSA does not permit punitive
damages, and the cruise lines get away with murder.
I believe our Government needs to create legislation to set
standards, create laws and monitor accidents and crime
statistics. Fines and consequences need to be substantial so
that it is more profitable to follow the law.
I believe legislation needs to be updated as technology
changes. As technology is developed, the cruise industry will
incorporate all features that will entice people to take a
cruise and increase their profits. Safety standards and
legislation need to be updated as well to meet the changing
situations.
Care teams, infrared imaging and improved reporting are
great. However, these things are used for after a rape happens,
a person dies from smoke inhalation or a young man goes
overboard. Our goal should be to prevent these accidents and
crimes from ever happening.
I believe cruise lines should be regulated like a business
in the United States. U.S. businesses are required to update
products for the safety of consumers. There are regulations on
all consumer goods and activities in the U.S. Government
agencies enforce these regulations. The cruise industry should
be regulated in the same manner as any U.S. business as they
are doing business from our ports and transporting our
citizens.
In closing, I would like to say in order to achieve change,
all victims, CLIA, the industry and our Government must work
together. Change cannot be hindered by efforts of individuals
with an agenda to punish cruise lines to get even. Efforts by
the cruise lines must not mean changes are minimal and at
minimal cost to only appear to be improving their way of doing
business.
There must be legislation to assure that all U.S. citizens
and those leaving from a U.S. port come back safe and sound.
Legislation cannot be defined in a single 10-point plan but
must set forth a flexible plan that allows for continuous
improvement.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Ms. Hudson.
Ms. Hudson. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the
Subcommittee. I would like to thank Chairman Cummings and the
Committee for inviting me to testify today concerning cruise
ship security practices and procedures.
I would also like to personally thank my Congressman, Mike
Castle, for his continued support of legislation to protect
Americans on cruise ships.
My name is Lynnette Hudson, and I am the daughter of
Richard Liffridge. My father died after a fire erupted on the
Star Princess on March 23rd, 2006.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my
family who is present here today as well as the other members
and victims of the ICV who have come to support us.
I have submitted my written statement which outlines
recommendations to ensure this type of tragedy does not happen
to another family. I just want to take a few minutes to point
out major points regarding some defects in security and safety
practices onboard cruise ships.
During the early hours on March 23rd, 2006, a fire erupted
on the balcony of a stateroom on the 11th deck. The cause of
the fire was determined to be a smoldering cigarette that was
improperly discarded. The cigarette landed on a towel or
clothing that was left on the balcony furniture. The furniture
and the balcony partitions were made of highly combustible
polycarbonate materials.
Let me just describe a few of the shortcomings that I
believe contributed to the death of my father. First of all,
there were no fire detection or fire suppression systems on the
balconies. The ship's emergency number which is manned 24 hours
per day was not manned after the crew alert signal was sounded.
This left the 911 call center vacant during subsequent
emergency calls.
The self-closing alleyway doors were propped open with a
wooden wedge which allowed the toxic smoke to reach internal
alleyways.
One of the six members of the engine fire party was unable
to dress because his suit was too small.
No member of the engine fire party or any other party
carried the thermal imaging camera because it was considered to
be too heavy and cumbersome. This camera would have provided
necessary visibility.
It is clear that changes need to be made in the area of
fire safety training, emergency response and in the protocol of
handling emergency situations. Smoking is still a big issue on
cruise ships. Although some lines have banned smoking in
certain areas of the ships, the probability of another fire
occurring is extremely high.
During the last Subcommittee hearing in March, 2007,
Chairman Cummings, you recommended that the cruise industry
work with the victims to develop solutions to the current
problems. On July 26th, 2007, I attended a meeting with CLIA
along with the ICV President, Ken Carver, and others
representing victims. As a board member of the ICV, I felt that
the process to bring CLIA to the table for discussions took too
long.
Many suggestions were made at that meeting regarding how
the cruise industry could improve in areas of safety. There has
been no follow-up meeting or any acknowledgment that CLIA acted
on any of the suggestions that were offered.
CLIA held a meeting this past August where they flew
certain victims to Miami. They told these victims that they
could not bring their legal representatives nor were the media
welcome.
At the end of the meeting, CLIA wanted to form an advisory
committee for the purpose of providing possible solutions to
the industry's safety and security problems. CLIA had the sole
discretion of picking the members themselves. It is unclear to
me why CLIA would want to form a separate committee instead of
working with the ICV, an organization that consists of over 200
members and friends.
I am concerned that there has not been true progress since
the meeting last March. If the industry has committed to
changes, they have not shared them with the ICV.
In my situation, not only were the circumstances
surrounding my father's death difficult to accept, the
mishandling of the fire emergency and aftermath compounded the
situation. Despite being listed as my father's emergency
contact person, no one from Princess Cruise Line contacted me.
Not one person from Princess Cruise Lines or from the cruise
industry told us what happened to my father. I, in fact, had to
read about it in this 52-page marine accident report.
Let me just take a minute to tell you a few things about my
father. Not only was he a devoted husband, father, grandfather
and great-grandfather, he was also my friend. After 20 years of
honorable military service, he retired from the Air Force. He
proudly served this Country in the Vietnam and Korean Wars. He
was also a Mason. One of the things he enjoyed most was
traveling and spending time with his family and friends.
In closing, I am hoping that we as victims can work
together with CLIA to make cruising safer for passengers.
I often struggle with wondering what my father felt those
last few minutes of his life. I find peace in knowing that he
thought about his children and the people he loved the most.
I also struggle with the fact that knowing the moment I
woke up that morning, he was already gone and no one from
Princess Cruise Line bothered to call me. It took nine hours--
nine hours--after the fire before I received a call, and it
still wasn't from Princess Cruise Line.
Thank you for conducting this important meeting and
listening to our concerns and comments. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Ms. Orlich.
Ms. Orlich. My name is Angela Orlich, and I am from
Springfield, Massachusetts. Thank you for providing me the
opportunity to tell the ordeal that I encountered during a
Royal Caribbean cruise with several of my friends. Our group
consisted of approximately 40 individuals from a local hospital
where I worked.
During the cruise, I purchased a shore excursion which was
promoted and sold to me while on the Royal Caribbean cruise
ship. This excursion was to a resort in Cozumel, Mexico, which
included scuba diving. The excursion in question was part of
Royal Caribbean's shore excursions promotion called
Explorations which is one of the attachments.
The cruise ship I sailed on, Nordic Empress, offered many
different types of excursions, all of which sounded like great
fun. I decided to purchase an excursion which was described by
Royal Caribbean as parasailing, banana boat, snorkeling and
diving tours. I signed up for the excursion, completed the
Explorations shore excursion information and order form bearing
the Royal Caribbean International Get Out There official logo
and paid my $28. Little did I know that it would result in a
horrifying experience.
I had previously taken scuba lessons at home but had not
been certified. I am claustrophobic and the Atlantic Waters
were too murky for me to get certified. I thought it would be a
good idea to take additional lessons in the clear waters of
Cozumel.
The dive instructor told me that he was a PADI master
diver. I asked for a wetsuit, but the dive instructor told me
it was not necessary. I also asked not to go out very deep, but
I was nervous.
During the dive, the instructor took me to a depth of
approximately 60 feet. I did not want to go that deep, but it
was too late. I was already on the boat. We stayed underwater
longer than I wanted, and I became tired.
While still underwater, the dive instructor began to rub
his hands over my body and molested me. He grabbed my buttocks
and ran his hands up and down my legs. I shook my head no and
began to panic, but I tried to maintain my composure.
I motioned to return to the surface. I grabbed the rope to
get back up to the boat, trying to get away from him, but he
grabbed and began to pull me back down. I tried to fight him
off, but he continued to molest me.
Then he turned off the air in my tank. He pulled my top
down and bit my breast. I was terrified. At this point, we were
about 30 feet underwater. I was afraid that I would die, that
my body would never be found and that no one would ever know
what happened to me.
Finally, I managed to get back to the surface and return to
my group. I was so frightened that my friends thought a shark
had attacked me while I was running towards them. I was
horrified, shaking and crying. My friends were also very upset
and tried to find a police officer, but in Cozumel, Mexico,
there are none to be found.
When I returned to the Royal Caribbean ship, I reported
what had happened to me. I could not believe that something
like this could happen to me during a cruise. I didn't know
what to do.
I reported the assault to the cruise employee, Jessica, who
had coordinated passenger activities. I made a report to the
ship security officer, and I went down to the ship's doctor.
The ship doctor refused to examine or treat me. He was totally
dismissive and told me to see a doctor when I returned home
tomorrow to Massachusetts.
When the cruise ship returned to Miami, there were no FBI
agents waiting to interview me or any other agents. The cruise
line offered no assistance whatsoever.
My life changed on the day that I was attacked. I could not
sleep. I was traumatized and forced to seek treatment from a
doctor and help from a counselor.
It was clear to me that the instructor needed to be
arrested and sent to jail and only then could other women be
protected. I did not want anyone else to experience anything
like this. I took it upon myself to report what happened to the
U.S. Consulate's Office in Mexico and Anne Harris.
The excursion company told me that the diving instructor
would be fired. However, I wanted him to be criminally
prosecuted. Six months after the cruise, in an attempt to have
the dive instructor prosecuted, I returned to Mexico, made a
formal declaration against him, but the criminal prosecution
has gone nowhere. This has been a very frustrating and
fruitless experience so far, and it has also been expensive.
The cruise line response? Not only did Royal Caribbean
refuse to help me, it refused to reimburse me the $28 which I
had spent for the excursion.
But what did I receive instead? A form letter from the
President of Royal Caribbean thanking me for giving them an
opportunity to send you home with an experience to remember.
The President also enclosed a $50 coupon because you can expect
just as many memorable experiences on your next cruise
vacation, which is another exhibit.
In February, 2006, I sought advice on what I could do from
a maritime lawyer. The purpose was not to file a lawsuit but to
obtain information and to prevent this from happening to
others. He sent a letter to the President of the cruise line
and its risk management department, asking for basic
information about the assault on me, also an attachment. There
was no response from Royal Caribbean.
I would actually, in closing, like to say how many other
victims like me have not survived their attacks at the hands of
the same individual as well as other dive or snorkeling
instructors. Who will be his next victim? Is this individual
still employed as a scuba instructor?
I would like the cruise lines to investigate the excursions
they sell. Go to the excursion location to make certain that
the activity is safe. Make certain that you can send your
family to this site. Warn you in advance that you are really on
your own the second you leave the cruise ship even on an
excursion the cruise line promotes and profits from it.
Maintain a database of sexual predators both on their
cruise ships and the excursions they promote. Respond to
passenger complaints in a timely and meaningful manner. Notify
the FBI and the U.S. Consulate immediately.
Provide a trained female crisis counselor aboard the ship
so that the female victims have other female to turn to. It was
very difficult to talk to a security officer as a male and I am
a female and not a female in there.
Mr. Cummings. Believe me, we are very sensitive to that
issue.
Ms. Orlich. Yes.
Mr. Cummings. I am going to have to ask you to wrap up
because we have got some votes and time has run out anyway.
Ms. Orlich. Fine.
Mr. Cummings. But I want to hear from Mr. Ruchelman and Mr.
Sullivan, and then we are going to have to take a break. I
would just ask you to move through it as fast as you can. I am
sorry.
Mr. Ruchelman. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to
testify before you today.
My name is Harold Ruchelman, and I understand that I am
here to help you determine how the cruise line industry should
deal with tragic events. My story is an example of how they
should handle such situations.
My story is about what Celebrity Cruises did for me in
March of 2006. It was Thursday, March 22nd. We docked in Arica,
Chile. One of our friends had made arrangements for a tour, a
tour that was not sponsored by Celebrity. It was an enjoyable
one, and we were on our way back to the ship when the accident
occurred, an accident that changed my life forever.
Our driver lost control of the van, and we toppled down the
steep slope of the mountain. The next thing I remember was
coming to on the side of the mountain with a broken right leg.
My friends' bodies were strewn about the mountain with the
remnants of the van near the bottom of the slope.
I could not see where my wife was. The guide, the only one
who was mobile, told me that most of the people perished
including all the women. That meant I had lost my wife.
Here I was in the middle of nowhere. How do I get in touch
with anyone? What do I do now? I felt cut off from my world and
totally helpless. All I could do was wait and see.
It took about an hour and a half before any help arrived.
No one spoke English, and I didn't speak Spanish. It was so bad
that when people asked me how I felt, I thought they were
asking for my name.
I was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Arica. My clothes
were cut off in the emergency room when I was taken for x-rays
to determine my condition.
Coming back from that procedure, I got my first taste of
the care that Celebrity Cruises would be giving me. One of the
doctors and one of the nurses from the Millennium, the ship we
were cruising on, were there at the hospital.
When I was in the ICU, the doctor asked me if there was
anything I need on the ship. I suffer from sleep apnea and use
a CPAP machine which was in the cabin on the ship. I asked if
he could get it as I doubted that the hospital in Arica had
one.
He also told me that the doctors there said my x-rays
indicated I may have a problem with my aorta. I was taken for a
CAT scan. When the doctor came back with my CPAP machine, he
conferred with the doctors and told me that my CAT scan proved
negative.
I was concerned about the cost of everything and how I was
going to pay for it. Seeing my anxiety over this issue, the
doctor, after taking it upon himself to look into this matter,
told me that Celebrity would pick up all the costs associated
with the accident. I was astounded as this excursion was not
sponsored by them.
I was then moved to a ward which I shared with the guide
and the other surviving member of our group. Being in a
hospital in a small town in a third world country was
unsettling to say the least. Air conditioning was opening a
window which let the flies in. The food left much to be desired
even for hospital food.
But the worst was the language barrier. My leg, now in a
full cast, kept me bedridden. If I needed anything, how could I
let them know?
Two American volunteers from a nearby university came to
help. They remained until Celebrity Cruises brought two people
from the States to remain with us, myself and the other
survivor for the duration of our stay in the hospital. They
stayed with us day and night just in case we needed anything.
These two wonderful people were my connection to the rest
of my world. The attention they provided was both comforting
and greatly appreciated. They treated me as if I was family.
When I stirred during the night, they jumped to see if I needed
anything. I will never forget them.
They were only one facet of the help and concern offered by
Celebrity. A member of their strike force came to see what he
could do for us. He was constantly on the phone, trying to make
all sorts of arrangements. Seeing what gyrations he was going
though gave me a secure feeling, a feeling that I was not alone
in Arica. There were people who were extremely concerned with
my situation.
Celebrity flew in a rabbi from Florida. Being of the Jewish
religion, we avoid autopsies if at all possible. However, when
one is required by law, certain procedures must be followed.
This rabbi was there to make sure that religious protocols were
followed in our wives' autopsies as well as meeting our
spiritual needs.
They thought of things that I was in no condition to think
of. They even flew in a counselor to talk to me.
Many people came in to see us. A rabbi from Santiago, an
individual from Israel, officials from the U.S. Embassy,
officials from Chile, but the ones that stood out as trying to
do the most for us were the people from Celebrity Cruises. They
were obviously making a concerted effort to meet our every need
and bring the situation to a satisfactory conclusion.
They made arrangements for my children to fly down to
Chile. You can imagine how welcome that news was since I
thought I would be in that hospital for some time. Later that
day, I was told we would be flying home Friday afternoon. I
asked if my children knew of the change in plans and was told
they had been informed.
Another problem was solved, how could I get in touch with
my kids and let them know I was okay. I was elated when the
person making all the arrangements handed me his cell phone
with my son-in-law at the other end of the line.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Ruchelman, I am going to have to ask you
to wrap up because we have got to get to Mr. Sullivan and we
only have about six and a half minutes.
Mr. Ruchelman. Okay.
Soon I was whisked off to a waiting ambulance and taken to
a local airport together with other survivors and put on a
chartered plane. I cannot believe what was done for us, that
Celebrity chartered the plane just for the two of us and the
remains of our wives.
On board were the doctor, the nurse and two guardian
angels, the counselor and the rabbi. They, along with the
flight crew, were constantly checking up on us. The doctor, in
order to monitor us, sat facing us the entire trip. The doctor
accompanied us all the way to Newark, New Jersey.
The plane landed at Newark, taxied to a private hanger
where our children came on board. The doctor checked me out one
last time to ensure I was well enough to go home, and I was
then put in an ambulance that took me to my daughter's house.
I cannot begin to express the feeling I had then or have
now at the consideration, concern and efforts the Celebrity
Cruise organization extended to me and to think that this all
began with an excursion that they had not sponsored. Yet, they
still chose to do something, and they did an astonishing job.
They more than extended themselves in helping me get through my
ordeal. I do not know what I would have done without them.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Ruchelman, I have been very kind. I have
got to get to Mr. Sullivan.
Why don't we let you? You go ahead and finish. Mr.
Sullivan, we will get you on the way back. Please wrap up.
Mr. Ruchelman. I will be eternally grateful for their
humanity, compassion and thoughtfulness. I don't know if my
case is an aberration, but Celebrity has set a standard that
the rest of the industry should emulate.
Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to be
here today.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
We have four votes. We should be back in a little bit over
a half an hour.
[Recess.]
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Sullivan.
Mr. Sullivan. Good afternoon, Chairman Cummings, Ranking
Member Mr. LaTourette and Subcommittee Members and staff.
I, in fact, am the mystery guest earlier referred to by
Congressman Mica. I am a former Federal prosecutor, and I spent
over 10 years pursuing any and all manner of Federal crime as
an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. Now,
ironically, I represent corporations.
I know how and when and why things go wrong in
corporations, and I understand how to correct them. I am sorry
to report that based on what I have seen Royal Caribbean does
not.
Today, I represent a young college woman who was horribly
and brutally raped while asleep behind a locked stateroom door
while on a Royal Caribbean cruise.
Contrary to Congressman Mica's suggestion, there is no
pending litigation right now between my client and Royal
Caribbean. I am here at her request to pursue the legislative
process.
Chairman Cummings was also correct when he represented that
my appearance was also requested by other Members of Congress,
and he very graciously extended me an invitation to appear here
today. I am grateful and so is my client.
You have heard a lot of reassurances from Royal Caribbean
and will hear more today. The story I am here to tell you
occurred just three weeks prior to the testimony that you heard
from Royal Caribbean in March of 2007. The company chose not to
tell you about it because it is in stark contrast to the
portrait Royal Caribbean publicly paints. In fact, this story
is the classic case of how a company should not behave.
I would like to draw your attention as some backdrop to the
written testimony of Mr. Bald who said that where situations
occur, their goal is to effectively respond, to restore safety
and security, to treat and care for guests, to identify those
responsible, to preserve evidence and to facilitate and support
the investigation of the incident.
Nothing of the kind happened. While those are laudable
goals, there was no evidence of that practice when it came to
my client in March of 2007, three weeks before the testimony
you heard. I implore you to question Mr. Bald closely today
about what happened to my client.
In March, Laurie Dishman testified about being raped by a
Royal Caribbean employee and then victimized by a company that
managed its own risk instead of caring for her. She warned
there would be another Laurie Dishman.
I represent the next Laurie Dishman. To respect my client's
desire for anonymity and because of her youthfulness, I will
refer to her as Jane Doe throughout my testimony. She was raped
two weeks before the March hearing and, like Ms. Dishman, she
was raped by a crew member. I would like to tell you just a
part of her story which is significantly at odds with the
portrait Royal Caribbean painted for you in March and ask that
you refer to my written statement for more detail.
In March, Jane boarded a Royal Caribbean ship with several
of her college age female friends to experience a fun and
relaxing spring break. Midway through the cruise, the cabin
steward who was assigned to Jane's quarters used his Royal
Caribbean-issued pass key after hours to enter a cabin and rape
Jane while she slept.
The crew member who did this was a predator. He knew Jane
and her friend were fast asleep when he let himself into the
room. Without waking Jane or her friend, the crew member
removed Jane's shorts and bikini bottom and forcibly raped her.
She awoke as a result of the rape and was able to struggle
free.
Jane's friend reported the crime immediately by dialing 911
on the ship's phone. All she met with by the Royal Caribbean
operator on the other end of the line was a laugh. The report
wasn't taken seriously when that first call was placed.
Jane was next taken to the ship's infirmary where she
expected to receive the urgent medical care, forensic treatment
and even a bit of compassion that she so desperately needed at
that time. Instead, she encountered a medical staff whose
actions served only Royal Caribbean's risk management
interests.
The medical staff did not examine Jane, did not ask her if
there were any alcohol or prescription medications in her
system, did not perform a rape kit examination, did not give
Jane the anti-retrovirals and other medications that are
critical to preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted
diseases after a rape.
The only thing Royal Caribbean's medical staff did was to
immediately inject her, without her consent or any discussion
whatsoever, with a powerful drug, a drug called Lorazepam, a
potent sedative and an amnesic drug, one that induces
forgetfulness. Lorazepam is also known to dangerously interact
with other medications and alcohol, but the nurse never
inquired.
Further, the nurse gave the injection, knowing that Royal
Caribbean's doctor would soon compel Jane to make a written
statement about the rape and that Jane would be interviewed by
local law enforcement. Obviously, she would not have been in
any condition to forcefully describe the trauma and the facts
of the rape that she suffered half an hour or so before when
she was sedated.
Shortly after the injection took effect, the doctor ordered
Jane to complete and sign a Royal Caribbean statement form
without informing Jane that the information she provided would
be turned directly over to Royal Caribbean's risk management
personnel and lawyers.
After obtaining the statement, the doctor abandoned Jane in
a sedated state on an infirmary cot for almost six hours when
she was in need of emergency medical care. The inexcusable
delay placed her outside the recommended timeframe for
receiving anti-retrovirals and allowing evidence of the rape to
deteriorate within and outside of her body. Further, the doctor
initially refused the request of Jane and her traveling
companions to call their parents for help and guidance.
Contrary to the company's testimony in March, Royal
Caribbean did not assign the most senior female officer to
serve as Jane's advocate. Indeed, she had no advocate. The
shipboard personnel were scrambling to protect Royal
Caribbean's liability interests from the consequences of her
action.
After six hours, while Jane was left in repose to herself
on a company cot, her friends were allowed to leave the ship,
and she was abandoned at the foreign port of call to the local
authorities. Ship members did nothing to ensure that she was
taken to the best possible hospital. She was taken to a
developing nation's public hospital where in fact she received
only half the standard dosage of the anti-retrovirals she
desperately needed.
After Jane left the ship, Royal Caribbean continued its
risk management tactics. Witnesses have reported that Royal
Caribbean failed to promptly secure the crime scene such that
unauthorized individuals had easy access to it and, in fact,
entered it.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Sullivan, I am going to have to ask you
to wrap up.
Mr. Sullivan. Despite the fact that Jane's rapist was
apprehended by local authorities and will stand trial, Royal
Caribbean to this day refuses to turn over evidence it retains
that is needed to bring Jane's rapist to justice. We also have
been without and have requested many times the rapist's medical
records, so we can make determinations as to whether or not my
client is at risk for HIV or STDs.
I want to jump to the recommendations that I think are
important and, of course, most of them are outlined. All of
them are outlined in my written testimony, but again I want to
offer a backdrop. In terms of Mr. Bald's written testimony, in
terms of the enhanced safety and security requirements, he has,
what I think, offered nothing more but amorphous and ambiguous
happy talk phraseology.
He talks about instituting a deterrent presence without
describing it, revising of several key processes and exchange
of information, continuing discussions, quarterly reviews of
shipboard incidents, formal after-action processes, development
of incident metrics, whatever those might be. The amended
policy on incident responses in place and SeaPass program is
happily now in the request for proposal phase.
My recommendations are concrete.
Chairman Cummings, I think the key to this case is that
there was no pass key technology whereby a crew member was
allowed to enter a stateroom after hours without the knowledge
or consent of the victim inside. I call for a pass key
technology, a very simple technology. Make them inoperative
after the duty shift of the particular employee or simply have
them turned in.
I have also requested for the installation and monitoring
of security cameras in the hallways of these ships just like
what is done in hotels. There would be evidence of individuals
entering the room, in this case, unauthorized entry.
Thank you very much for your time.
Mr. Cummings. We will probably get to some of yours. Did
you finish your suggestions, your recommendations? We will be
able to get to them in the questions.
Mr. Sullivan. Those are the two primary recommendations
and, of course, I have a few in my written testimony.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you. I am just trying to keep it all
even-steven here.
Mr. Carver, do you support or oppose the establishment by
CLIA of a working group comprised of victims and the families
of victims of crimes and incidents on cruise lines to advise
CLIA on the adoption of safety and security improvements?
Mr. Carver. Let me answer the question this way. Here is
what I am against.
Mr. Cummings. As briefly as you can.
Mr. Carver. Yes. CLIA targeted only ICV members. If you
read their invitation, no one would know that that was the
target of their invitation. I, in fact, wrote them a letter and
said, who has been invited to this meeting, because you surely
can't tell from that.
There are hundreds of victims and which ones are chosen to
come to the meeting, a select group of victims? What was the
program? I could get no answer to that, to those two simple
questions.
I think CLIA, to be honest and sincere, needs to go to the
thousands of victims that they have to solicit information and
not just target ICV.
Now why did they target just ICV? Because we are organized.
We are an organized group of victims. The rest of their
victims, and there are hundreds of them, are not organized. So
they are no problem to the cruise line.
Here is a list of hundreds of victims that they could have
solicited for their advice. They ignored them.
So I say this. If they are interested in setting up a
group, then they need to be balanced and go after all of their
victims and not just a select group of ICV members.
Mr. Cummings. What do you think should be the next step?
I had asked you all to get together. Certainly, there were
efforts to pull it together. I understand you had a meeting and
you described all of that. I guess I am trying to figure out do
you see a way forward.
Mr. Carver. Yes, I do because we had a meeting on July
26th. We went through the 10 points, and there seemed to be
agreement on a lot of the 10 points, but Terry Dale came back
and said, well, we would like to do it another way.
So I think we need to have another meeting required by the
Chairman to look at what are they proposing. All we know is
what we proposed. They have come back and said, well, we have
got other ways to do it although we agree in principle.
I think the one concern that I have is that they want to do
these things on a voluntary basis. That deeply concerns us, but
I think we need a second meeting for them to respond to what
their exact proposals are.
Mr. Cummings. One of the things, Mr. Carver and to all of
you, is just trying to get the parties to come together to try
to bring some resolution, like you said, voluntarily, but I
don't want to waste our time and don't want to waste yours.
Mr. Carver. Sure.
Mr. Cummings. We have one life to live. This is no dress
rehearsal. This is it. This is the life.
Mr. Carver. You are right.
Mr. Cummings. What I am trying to get to is that I am
trying to create a win-win situation.
Mr. Carver. Absolutely.
Mr. Cummings. If you still have confidence--it sounds like
you do,--that there is something that you can go forward to try
to do and accomplish, we will see what the industry says in a
few minutes. I am just curious.
Mr. Carver. Yes, I think we need that second meeting to get
their feedback, so we know whether we can agree with it or
disagree with it, and that seems to be a reasonable approach.
Mr. Cummings. Let me ask you, Mr. Sullivan. I want to thank
you for your testimony.
One of the things that I am concerned about, I think you
were here earlier when we were talking to the FBI, and we
talked about evidence. One of the things I am going to ask the
industry to do is to make sure that they have already reached
out to the FBI--as you know, Mr. Bald, used to be with the
FBI--and to try to create this CLIA protocol with regard to
these sexual assaults and other crimes, by the way.
But it is just so interesting that out of the 18 open
cases, that 13 of them are sexual assaults. That seems to be
kind of glaring, making sure that we preserve evidence and
hopefully address some of the issues.
I understand what you said about the pass key, but do you
have any comments with regard to the preservation of evidence?
You are a lawyer.
Mr. Sullivan. Absolutely.
Mr. Cummings. And I ask you to be brief.
Mr. Sullivan. Thank you. I did prosecute crime, so I know a
little bit about the collection and preservation of evidence.
What the experience I have testified to you about tells me
is that contrary to what we have heard from representatives of
the FBI and the Coast Guard this morning, it doesn't seem to me
that Royal Caribbean is interested in prosecuting criminals,
predators, people who prey on American citizens or any other
individual on shipboard cruises.
Why? Because that exposes them to liability, and that is
not something that they are interested in.
There were many reports. We have seen reports from 1999,
commissioned reports by consultants, that the cruise industry
in particular has asked: How do we enhance our security
processes?
Video camera surveillance, the pass key that I referenced a
few minutes ago is easy; the installation of peepholes; a
victim/witness advocate; having the rape kit onboard actually
used.
The rape kit was not even attempted for my client who sat
there under sedation for six hours. As I think about that, what
possible purpose could be served by sedating my client without
her consent, knowing that she is about to give statements to
law enforcement as well as statements to Royal Caribbean
personnel under that condition?
You are a lawyer. I am a lawyer. Everyone knows that for
purposes of providing information or testimony, one of the
first questions asked is are you under any medication, is there
anything in your body which might influence your ability to
relate what you perceived as to an event that happened to you.
Royal Caribbean did this intentionally because they wanted
to undermine the potential for pursuing this case because that
might lead to exposure, and I frankly represent that it is
probably more cost effective for them to attempt to handle a
case by case situation as opposed to installing the broader
range of preventive measures although I don't think that is the
case.
There is testimony before you or evidence before you that
installing peepholes per door is only $11.00. It is very easy
to have personnel trained in the collection and preservation of
evidence. It is very easy to have video surveillance. It is
very easy to have a victim/witness advocate, and it is
extremely to make those pass keys inoperative after the duty
shift of the crew member is over.
The cruise lines have been on notice of these problems for
years. Those commission reports were in 1999. We are in 2007.
Royal Caribbean knew about the fate of my client in March,
2007. Three weeks prior to that, she was victimized.
So my recommendation at this point, respectfully, is that
it is long gone for purposes of the two sides reaching an
accommodation on their own. It is time for legislation. It is
time for Congress to step in and mandate that specific security
procedures be installed onboard these cruise lines to protect
American citizens primarily but to protect anyone else who buys
a ticket where they are implored to go and enjoy themselves
under a safe and fun environment when in fact there is nothing
of the kind that is available for them. They go on these
cruises at their own risk.
I submit that the cruise industry could take these
preventive measures, Chairman Cummings, with a minimum of
expenditure in light of the profits they obtain on a yearly
basis.
Mr. Cummings. Let me ask Ms. Hudson and Ms. DiPiero, Ms.
Orlich and Mr. Ruchelman. Can you each of please state which of
the meetings held between the victims and families of victims
and the cruise lines you attended, if any? Please give the
Subcommittee your sense of these meetings and then comment on
what you believe needs to be done next in terms of ongoing
discussions between the victims and cruise lines to improve
safety and security on cruise ships.
We will go with you, Ms. Hudson. You are first.
Ms. Hudson. Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. I ask you all to be brief. I just want to get
a feel.
Ms. Hudson. Okay. I attended the July 26th, 2007 meeting
that was held here in Washington, D.C. along with a few other
members of the ICV and a couple of members and friends to the
ICV. It was five hours long. We went five hours straight. There
were a lot of great recommendations that came out of that
meeting.
Terry Dale, they did take notes. There was an attorney,
Phil, who recommended the cruise industry possibly using an
outside vendor to take a look at the security setup and
practices. So I thought there were a lot of good suggestions
that came out of it.
My problem and concern is that was the end of it. We never
heard anything like, well, this is what we did. This is what we
are going to do.
So that is the only meeting I attended. I did not go to the
August meeting because I didn't get an invitation to the August
meeting, not like the other two, but that was one meeting.
I thought it was helpful. They listened to our 10-point
plan. They did give their recommendations, but I thought we
were trying to move forward, but unfortunately I don't know
what came of that. It kind of went by the wayside.
Mr. Cummings. In other words, you are saying you felt good
about that meeting.
Ms. Hudson. I felt good about that meeting.
Mr. Cummings. When you walked out the door, you felt
optimistic that you would be able to work something out?
Ms. Hudson. I thought they were going to work something
out, yes, sir.
Mr. Cummings. All right. Do you want to try to continue
that effort?
Ms. Hudson. I would like to. I am very skeptical about the
voluntary agreement. Also legislation, I would love to see
legislation here, but if they would commit to making the
changes that we are asking, like Congresswoman Brown said, use
common sense. There are things that they can do common sense-
wise.
Mr. Cummings. Ms. Orlich?
Ms. Orlich. I did attend in March, 2006, the first hearing
here in D.C. I didn't testify. I was just with my fellow ICV
people here. But I also attended in August in Miami and met
with CLIA, Terry Dale, Gary Bald, and I actually thought at
that time that there would be things done. That was
approximately a month ago. Nothing has been done since then to
my expectations that I thought.
I also spoke to someone underneath Gary Bald, a Mike
Giglia--I am sorry if I am ruining his name--who is a former
FBI agent. He took my case, took all my information, and I
thought by now I would hear something back about Cozumel. He
did call me last week and told me that he sent an email to the
American Consulate, again this Anne Harris that I had dealt
with a couple years ago, but he has not yet received anything
back. So he actually did try, but there hasn't been anything
else.
I would like to see it continue if possible.
Mr. Cummings. Ms. DiPiero?
Ms. DiPiero. I attended the meeting in August in Miami. We
all had great ideas. I gave them four pages of ideas. They
seemed very receptive. They said, yes, you have great ideas.
We left there. There were no proposals. There were no
promises. As of yet, I have seen no written contract saying, we
will do this, this and this.
Like I said in my testimony, any change is going to require
money and that is held in the purse strings of the companies.
Until those people are the ones that come forward and say,
okay, you have the money to do whatever you need to do, I don't
think they are going to do it. They are going to be on a
budget. There has to be things that have to be done, and they
need to be told how to do them and they need to be given a
timeframe to do them in.
I think that the people we were with in Miami truly would
like to go in and do all the changes in the world, but they
don't have the money to do it. I think it is really going to be
forced upon the industry.
We forced it upon the automobile industry. There didn't
used to be airbags in our cars. There didn't used to be
seatbelts. There didn't used to be rollbars within the bodywork
to protect our heads should a car roll over. I believe that the
automobile industry has done those things because they were
require to do it, and we need to require the cruise lines to
make change.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Ruchelman?
Mr. Ruchelman. Mr. Chairman, I didn't attend any meetings.
Mr. Cummings. All right. I want to thank all of you.
We are going to now go to the Ranking Member, but I just
want to express our heartfelt thanks to all of you. I know it
is kind of difficult.
Ms. Hudson, I guess that is your sister back there. Is that
your sister?
Ms. Hudson. Yes, my sisters.
Mr. Cummings. Is that your sister?
Ms. Hudson. Two of them, yes.
Mr. Cummings. Okay. I mean the one in the red. She looks
just like you.
Ms. Hudson. Oh, no, that is my niece. That is my niece.
Mr. Cummings. Oh, okay.
The thing I appreciate is that you all have taken a
difficult circumstance that is so very, very painful and then
tried to put the anger aside and try to make things better for
other people. I have never been in that situation, but I
imagine it is not always easy.
I know the industry. I have talked to the industry many
times. I know they are trying to do a lot of things, but we
have to have this balance.
I have said to the industry that they have to be reasonable
and try to work with you all, but you all have to be reasonable
too so that we can come up with a win-win because I think that
when we are constantly battling, nothing comes out of it. I
think we are aiming in that direction, but I just wanted to
thank you all very much.
Mr. LaTourette.
Mr. Sullivan. Chairman Cummings? Oh, I am sorry, Mr.
LaTourette.
Mr. LaTourette. Do you want to say something before I
start? Go ahead.
Mr. Cummings. Very briefly.
Mr. Sullivan. I just wanted to make one point before we
leave. I think in light of the anguish suffered by the people
in this panel and my client and where we are in terms of the
lack of communication even though it was earnestly attempted,
that this panel has an obligation to inquire as to whether the
cruise industry is incentivized to believe that it is more
effective on a cost basis to defend individual cases,
especially where on those ships and in those cases evidence is
intentionally not preserved, rather than to implement the broad
base of security measures that have been out there in this
industry since 1999 and that they have been generally aware of.
That is the dynamic.
What is more effective from a cost basis?
Mr. Cummings. Mr. Sullivan, let me say this. I am hoping.
Thank you, Mr. LaTourette. I just want to answer this real
quick.
You made some very strong statements, and I am hoping that
the industry is listening to what you just said because I am
very interested to hear what they have to say to what you have
been saying, and I know they will respond. So let us hear from
that group. Thank you.
Mr. Sullivan. Thank you.
Mr. LaTourette. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just a housekeeping matter, I would ask unanimous consent
that additional opening remarks by Mr. Mica, the Ranking Member
of the Full Committee, be made part of the record.
Mr. Cummings. Yes.
Mr. LaTourette. Thank you very much.
I want to thank all of you for your observations today. An
editorial observation is one of the reasons I enjoy being a
Ranking Member on the Subcommittee is working with just a fine
man and gentleman like Chairman Cummings.
Mr. Carver, I was heartened by your observations that you
described the meetings that occurred as historic, and I think
that we all recognize that they came about as a result of the
attention that the Chairman has played to that. I know that he
doesn't need plaudits from me, but he is going to get them
anyway. I commend him for that and his continued diligence on
this issue.
I am interested in the line of questioning that you had. I
don't know if I subscribe to your statement, Mr. Carver, that
anybody that has ever been victimized needs to be invited to a
meeting. I think that what needs to happen are the ideas.
I jotted down that you presented the 10 things that your
group wanted to see. Ms. DiPiero had a number of items in her
observations such as raising railings and nets after dark.
Somebody had--it might have you, Ms. DiPiero--had a little
different slant. I think you wanted people with bracelets and
GPS and yours is a pass with a GPS finder that is activated by
salt water and, today, Mr. Sullivan's testimony about the pass
keys and the peepholes and things of that nature.
I think somewhere in the world there is a body of things
that reasonable people could agree would make ships safer when
it comes to crimes committed aboard ships. I guess it would be
my hope that there be continued dialogue.
Mr. Sullivan, maybe you can help me with this. You weren't
at our March hearing. Were you at our March hearing?
Mr. Sullivan. No, I was not.
Mr. LaTourette. Okay. One of the things that we sort of got
into was it is difficult. One, it is tough to pass a law, even
if you have got a great idea. Two, this particular issue, when
you are dealing with foreign-flagged vessels and you are
dealing with treaties, we can pass a lot of rules and
regulations about the structural integrity so that when they
come into our harbors, they don't break apart and pollute our
harbors and our bays, but these issues are a little bit
tougher.
I don't mean to suggest that you said that there is
something simple that we could, but I think that it is more
complicated. Do you have an observation on that?
Mr. Sullivan. I would respectfully suggest that to the
extent legislation proceeds on the basis of such foreign-
flagged ships using our harbors, the analogue would be such
foreign-flagged ships sell tickets to our American citizens and
that would provide a justifiable basis for the enhancements for
security under legislation that I suggested a few moments ago.
Mr. LaTourette. I don't know if I agree with you 100
percent. I do know that when the Coast Guard was here, they
made the observation on this reporting agreement, that if
people don't report, you can deny entry to ports. I suppose
there are things like that we could, but it is something to
look at.
This is my 13th year here and getting something through
both houses, signed by the President of the United States is a
difficult thing. I think that the path that the Chairman has
put you on is one that has the opportunity, at least in the
short run, to have some tangible results and success. We will
hear from the industry in just a minute about what their
thoughts are.
But I guess the question would be in addition to the things
that you have outlined, your 10 points, your group's 10 points
and, Ms. DiPiero, you had made some observations and, Mr.
Sullivan, you have made some observations.
Are there any other ideas out there in terms of changes
that aren't included in the 10 points, aren't included in the
nets, the cameras, the peepholes, that you all have
contemplated and thought about, rape kits--we are going to talk
about rape kits with the industry--that you think would address
the issues to bring us all together here today? Anybody?
Mr. Carver. I will just comment. I want to go back to that
earlier comment. Literally, I am not expecting the cruise lines
to invite thousands of people. What I did resent was that they
targeted only our members without telling us.
Mr. LaTourette. I understand that, and language is tough,
the use of ``target'' has kind of a sinister insinuation; that
they targeted you because you are organized and they don't care
about everybody else. I don't think I would accept that
argument.
I would make the argument that, for instance, if I was
interested in accepting the views of people who like baseball,
I would probably get a hold of some organized Major League
Baseball organization.
So I take it. I mean without ascribing a sinister motive to
them, I might take it as a compliment that they reached out to
you because you are organized and you know what you are doing
and you actually have a plan.
Mr. Carver. Right.
Mr. LaTourette. You have 10 points that are reasonable and
rational and everything else.
Mr. Carver. But the dates here, your second question, there
could be many, many items. Sue has got some items that we
haven't used that we think are great. I am sure the gentleman
at the end of the table has some ideas.
But we have got to start some place, and we started with 10
points which would dramatically change things and you add to
that. You can take some of Sue's things. Our 10 points is a
fluid document. We changed it in May or in June. We added.
Where we had just rape kits, we added medical care. You know.
So, sure, you have got to start some place.
Mr. LaTourette. I think that would be my invitation. If you
all want to get together and send the Subcommittee a list of
those things. If the Chairman makes a further inquiry about
this in terms of progress, we can talk about progress.
I have your 10 points. Ms. DiPiero, I have raising
railings, sensors to determine if something big goes overboard,
the netting issue of after dark to make sure people don't hit
the water, and the GPS chips.
We also have yours, Mr. Sullivan.
We are going to hear from the industry on the next panel,
but the invitation would be that there needs to be a body of
good ideas somehow memorialized in one place, and then that is
a good starting point. Rather continuing to have hearings where
we come in and we say the industry is good, the industry is
bad, why don't we just solve the problem and solve the problem
with good ideas?
If you would be so kind as to do that, and Ms. Hudson also
has some ideas on fire safety that she talked about. So there
is a body of ideas.
Do you want to say something?
Ms. Hudson. I am sorry. I do. Just some of the things that
the industry already does, in my situation, they have emergency
escape breathing devices already on the ships. They are just
for the use of crew members.
The practice is or their protocol is if someone is stuck or
trapped in a cabin, if they need the emergency escape breathing
device, they are to call the 911 phone. In our situation, no
one was manning the 911 phone.
That little unit, emergency escape breathing device, holds
at least 15 minutes of air. As you see in my written statement,
I mentioned how long my father was left in the alleyway. So
maybe if there was that unit in his cabin, I possibly wouldn't
be sitting here today in front of you.
Mr. LaTourette. I think those are the types of things that
I am talking about. If you all could either individually or as
a group get together and just submit that list of best
practices.
We have the same thing in all industries. In the railroad
industry, I had the family of an engineer who passed away in
Graniteville came in and said if he had had a self-contained
breathing apparatus in the locomotive, he might be with us
today.
So any thoughts, we would appreciate. Under the Chairman's
great diligence, we can then review progress about how these
talks are going forward.
Mr. Sullivan. Mr. LaTourette, very briefly.
Mr. LaTourette. Yes.
Mr. Sullivan. There has never been a dearth of great ideas.
I referenced the consultant's reports back in 1999. The
fundamental problem is there has never been devised a mechanism
to compel the cruise industry to implement the good ideas that
people have been coming up with for years and years. That is
the issue.
Mr. LaTourette. I appreciate that. I am also struck by the
remarks that the meeting that the Chairman urged, the set of
meetings are historic. I think that the industry gets it, and
there are carrot and stick approaches. I understand exactly
what you are saying.
Mr. Sullivan. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. First of all, Mr. LaTourette, I want to thank
you for your comments.
I do think that the industry gets it, and we are going to
keep trying to keep this train on the track.
We all know it is a two-way street, and there has to be
trust on both parts. The industry has to trust that it is
dealing with people who are going to be reasonable with them
and work through things, but the victims and the families have
to feel trust with regard to the industry. Without trust,
nothing works. No relationship works.
Ms. Brown.
Ms. Brown. Mr. Chairman, I don't have a question. I want to
hear the last participant, and I think they just called a vote.
So can you just tell me what the schedule is going to be?
Mr. Cummings. What we are going to have to do is we are
going to finish our rounds of questions. Then we are going to
have to come back to hear the industry.
Mr. Coble, I am sorry.
Mr. Coble. Mr. Chairman, very briefly, as the Chairman and
the Ranking Member said to the panel, we very much appreciate
your all being here today.
Mr. Carver, in your testimony, you included suggestions on
how to enhance passenger safety and security aboard cruise
vessels. Have you approached them or have they approached you
to discuss the possibility of implementing some of those
suggestions?
Mr. Carver. That is exactly what we talked about in July,
July 26th. We laid out fairly detailed documents. We probably
have given the cruise line 100 pages of documents on how these
things can be done. Their response was we like the idea, but in
fact we want to do it another way.
But one of the key items, the very first item was setting
up a database of employees that are terminated. Their position
was or the concern was it was not legal to set up such a type
of database. In fact, we gave CLIA a legal document a week ago
saying, in fact, it is legal to do that.
So they agreed to that in that meeting. We agreed to that.
We have given them a supporting legal memorandum concerning
that subject. It would seem that the next step is to do it
since they agreed to it and we agreed to it.
That was our number one point. Since 80 percent of the
crimes involve crew members, it makes sense that they are able
to identify these people and they don't terminate them off one
ship and go to another ship.
So, in fact, it would appear that we might have reached an
agreement on that. I have not gotten a response from the
industry to the letter that was sent to them a week ago, but
our legal counsel felt it was legal.
So we agreed to it. They said it is a good idea. Here is
the legal paper. Now they can disagree with it, but that is
where we are with our number one.
Mr. Coble. Let me ask you one final question, Mr. Carver.
How many victims are represented by ICV?
Mr. Carver. We have several hundred members, and I would
say 60, 70 victims.
Mr. Coble. I thank you, sir.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Ms. Matsui. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will just make it
short.
I just want to thank all of you for your courage and your
commitment and your willingness to work on this. I believe if
it weren't for you all and your concern that you do not want
this to happen to anybody else, we would not be here today.
I believe that you are making progress. I believe that the
fact that we are having hearings has been very helpful. I also
believe that there is a situation here where I think there is
now going to be more, I hope, give and take on this. There are
some very good suggestions at the bare minimum that could be
done by the cruise industry to start the process of developing
trust.
I think about it. I brought up the subject of hotels and
the fact that years ago people felt somewhat unsafe in hotels,
and now I think most people feel fairly safe. There are
peepholes. There are security cameras, security keys, all
manner of things that can be done.
I think these steps have to be made first. These
suggestions have been made, and I think they have to be
implemented.
The trust factor is very, very important. I brought that up
before. If this is to be voluntary, we have to trust that it
will happen. I know that the victims here are going to keep
with this, but their goal is not to let this happen to anybody
else. I think we owe it to them to ensure that doesn't happen.
So I thank you so very much, all of you, for being here
today. Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. With that, we thank you.
We have one vote, and so we will be back in about 15
minutes.
We want to, again, thank all of you.
I am going to back to what Mr. LaTourette said. I do not
like doing this, this hearing stuff. I think it is a difficult
way to get things done, but it is attention-grabbing and it
puts it out to the universe, but I think there are other ways
to get this done.
We are going to hear from the industry in a moment to see
where they are, and then it is quite possible that Mr.
LaTourette and I will get together in an informal way sometime
soon to see where we are progressing, but we will try to push
this process along as best we can.
Again, we want to thank all of you for taking the time out
to make a difference. Again, I just thank you. I really do.
We will be back in about 15 minutes to hear from the last
panel. Thank you.
[Recess.]
Mr. Cummings. As we call the next witnesses, I hope these
witnesses will concentrate. You had the opportunity to hear the
testimony already.
Let me see. How do I say this in a nice way? We don't want
to hear a lot of syrupy stuff. We want to know what we have
achieved, what can we expect to achieve and where do we go from
here.
I have read all the testimony. I know Mr. LaTourette and
Ms. Matsui and others have. We are trying to figure out where
do we go from here, what have we done, what have we
accomplished and let us see what your testimony will be.
Terry Dale, President and CEO of the Cruise Lines
International Association; Gary Bald, Senior Vice President and
Global Chief Security Officer with Royal Caribbean Cruises; Ms.
Vicky Rey, Vice President of Reservations Administration with
Carnival Cruise Lines; and Jeff Morgan, President and Co-
Founder of the Family Assistance Foundation.
Mr. Dale.
TESTIMONY OF TERRY DALE, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CRUISE LINES
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION; GARY BALD, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND
GLOBAL CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER, ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES, LTD.;
VICKY REY, VICE PRESIDENT, RESERVATIONS ADMINISTRATION,
CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES; AND JEFF MORGAN, PRESIDENT AND CO-
FOUNDER, FAMILY ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION, INC.
Mr. Dale. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Members of the
Subcommittee.
My name is Terry Dale, and I am the President and Chief
Executive Officer of Cruise Lines International Association,
CLIA. CLIA is North America's largest cruise industry
association with a membership of 24 cruise lines, 16,500 travel
agencies and 100 executive partners.
Mr. Chairman, I believe you have received written
submissions from a number of our travel industry partners that
work closely with the industry today. I respectfully ask that
they be submitted for the record.
Joining us today, and I would ask that they stand when I
read their association name, are the American Society of Travel
Agents, the National Association of Cruise-Oriented Agencies,
Cruise Planners and Vacation.com. These groups, as well as the
thousands of professionals they represent, can attest to the
millions of satisfied passengers who cruise with us each year.
They also know the great lengths our industry goes to protect
its passengers and crew. I thank them for their support and for
being here today.
On a personal note, I would be remiss if I did not express
the industry's profound sympathy to the victims whose stories
we have now heard in four congressional hearings on this topic.
To Ken Carver, Son Michael Pham, Sue and Ron DiPiero, Angela
Orlich, Lynnette Hudson and others who I personally met and
learned from over the past five months, I thank you for the
opportunity. As we have heard today from the Chairman and
Congresswoman Matsui, trust is critical, and I believe we can
trust and continue the positive foundation that we have laid.
To all of you, I take this opportunity to say we have heard
your concerns. Our industry is working hard to ensure that in
the future, if such incidents do occur, each passenger is
treated with the necessary compassion, respect and care.
Mr. Chairman, the cruise industry is committed to ensuring
the safety and security of all of our passengers and crew. I
know you share this commitment, and your directive to us to
work together has strongly been embraced by this industry and I
believe by the survivors as well.
CLIA and senior executives from our member lines have
worked tirelessly over the past six months in a collaborative
effort with our partners including the Federal agencies we have
heard from today as well as the International Cruise Victims
Association, other survivors, families and resources like the
Family Assistance Foundation.
Shortly after the last hearing, our industry members co-
sponsored the Family Assistance Foundation's symposium in
Atlanta in May at which I participated. Following this
important symposium, I flew to Phoenix to personally meet with
Ken Carver and Son Michael Pham. CLIA then met with the ICVA in
July here in Washington, D.C., to discuss their 10-point plan,
and this was followed by a CLIA-hosted meeting with the Family
Assistance Foundation, ICVA members and 13 survivors in Miami
on August 14th. Significant information has been shared, and
significant lessons learned.
The list of these meetings is illustrative of our
commitment to hear the concerns of survivors, to develop
programs that are responsive to their concerns and to deploy
these programs to the ships that operate throughout the world.
We have all embraced your challenge to get the industry and
partners working together for solutions.
There has been past debate whether reports of unlawful acts
onboard non-U.S.-flagged vessels are required to be reported.
We are grateful to the Federal Government for clarifying once
and for all that reporting of crimes in the cruise industry
under existing Federal law is mandatory, not voluntary.
On August 7th, 2007, CLIA received the following written
statement from the Coast Guard: The Departments of Justice and
State, FBI and U.S. Coast Guard have developed the following
consensus position: An offense committed against at U.S.
national on the high seas or in foreign territorial waters
aboard a foreign-flagged cruise ship that embarked from or
intended to call on a U.S. port would be subject to the
reporting requirements as a de facto condition of port entry.
This policy clarification was laid out in the Coast Guard's
testimony and is the formal position of the U.S. Government.
Mr. Chairman, I began my testimony talking about the strong
collaboration this industry has had since it received your
charge six months ago to work with the survivors of cruise ship
tragedies. Today I would like to announce that CLIA is creating
a survivor working group that will be comprised of survivors of
accidents and crime, families, CLIA staff members and senior
level cruise line executives.
This group will meet quarterly either in person or by
conference call. As in past meetings, the industry will
reimburse all travel and participation expenses incurred by
working group members. Our common goal will be continued open
dialogue and creating ways to achieving the best possible
safety record in the vacation industry.
Before I close, I would like to reiterate from the FBI's
written testimony that a passenger as .01 percent chance of
something bad happening during a cruise. While one incident is
one too many, that percentage speaks highly of the cruise
industry's record on passenger safety.
Let me just reemphasize that the cruise industry has as its
highest priority the protection of our most precious cargo, our
passengers.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Mr. Cummings. As we go forward, again, I want to emphasize
that I want to know what the industry is prepared to do and,
Mr. Bald, I think you are my next best hope of getting that. I
am not trying to be smart, but I think we have heard a lot here
today, and I just want to know where we are. That is what the
hearing was originally about.
And so, I am satisfied that we got the reporting thing. The
only question is whether or not it would go public. I think we
are there. It is the reporting piece that we are pretty
straight on.
I usually don't do this, but I want to make sure we use our
time wisely. The question is where do we go from here, what
have we been able to agree upon and what have we accomplished?
I use a term. Muhammad Ali, when he used to fight, he had
something. He did something called the rope-a-dope, and he
would lay it on the ring, on the ropes, and he would take all
the punches. Eventually, he would come out of the rope-a-dope,
have saved his energy and beat his opponent.
I don't want any rope-a-dopes here. I don't want to be
meeting to be meeting to be meeting to be meeting, and I know
Mr. LaTourette doesn't either.
So, Mr. Bald, as you begin to address us, so you can use
your time wisely, I want to know about what you all are willing
to do with the things that I have asked about with regard to
protocol, say, to protect against sexual assaults. What are you
all prepared to do with regard to that?
You heard about the DVD. I know you haven't gotten it
because the FBI hasn't released it yet, but I just want to have
some testimony on that and anything else you might have to say.
Ms. Brown. Mr. Chairman, before they move forward, let me
ask you a question because as they form their testimony and let
me just say, since I hadn't said it, I wanted to thank the
witnesses that have come forward. I am very sensitive to the
problems that we are addressing.
But we have been dealing with homeland security and in
transportation, when there is a list of names that may be on a
list and those names should not be on the list and some names
sound alike, we could be putting people's names out there that
is not the person. When you get that person's name on a list,
how does that person get their name off the list? You know we
are having that problem in aviation. We are having it in
transportation, period.
So I think as they develop whatever procedure and whatever
recommendations, they need to make sure that everybody is
protected.
Mr. Cummings. I understand. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Mr. Bald.
Mr. Bald. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Congressman
LaTourette and Members of the Subcommittee. I would like to
take this opportunity to thank you again for holding these
hearings.
After 29 years in the FBI, I have come to appreciate the
oversight you provide and the reform it can bring about when
conducted in a fair and productive manner. I have been
particularly impressed with your recommendation, Mr. Chairman,
in support of our industry partnership with cruise incident
survivors. I thank for your encouragement and collegial
inclinations in this important area.
I would like to begin by expressing my deepest sympathies
to the incident survivors who appeared before you today.
Lynnette Hudson, Ken Carver, Sue DiPiero, Angela Orlich and
Harold Ruchelman are good people who have suffered as a result
of events that occurred while they or their family members were
on a cruise. They have also devoted time to assisting us with
our improvement efforts, and for this I am grateful.
Mr. Chairman, a variety of issues were raised by these
witnesses earlier today as well as by Mr. Sullivan, and I am
certainly prepared to comment on their concerns. However, I do
not want to risk responding to aspects of their testimony in a
way that may cause further pain for these fine people or
perhaps undermine the important relationships we have begun to
form with them.
Instead, I intend to focus my testimony on the positive
steps we are taking and my strategy for future shipboard
security. I will, of course, be happy to answer any questions
that you have about their concerns. However, in the few minutes
that I have I would like to address several important areas,
first, my guest security strategy onboard our ships.
At Royal Caribbean, my guest security strategy is to
implement processes that prevent and effectively respond to
security incidents. Prevention is being pursued through a dual
effort of effective deterrence and understanding and
eliminating the factors that contribute to incidents.
In those situations where an incident does occur, our goal
is to effectively respond in a manner that restores safety and
security, treats and cares for our guests appropriately and
with compassion, identifies those responsible, preserves
evidence, and facilitates and supports Government investigation
of the incident and prosecution of those responsible.
It is important to note that although I believe we have
come a long way in our security efforts, we still have much
more to accomplish. Ultimately, this process is not about
statistics or even about past incidents although both are
important. It is about preventing even a single incident like
those you have heard about today. This is no small task but one
that I am confident our efforts will have a positive impact on
and a positive impact on the cruise experiences of our future
guests.
Since the March hearing before this Committee, I have
benefitted from both direct and indirect input from cruise
incident survivors. Their unique perspectives have afforded me
an excellent compass check to ensure that my efforts are on a
course that will prevent future incidents and are in keeping
with the needs of our guests and crew that I am dedicated to
protect.
I would like to focus my comments this afternoon on only a
few of the two dozen steps that we have taken in the six months
since we first met. You will find details of all of these
initiatives in my written testimony, the majority of which
speak to issues raised by incident survivors.
For example, in April, we implemented a formal quarterly
review of shipboard incidents as an oversight process that
helps us ensure incidents are properly reported, properly
addressed and offer opportunities for improvement. This month,
we added the FBI to this quarterly review process.
In June, we entered into an agreement with an outside
contractor to supply investigative experts who are on call to
respond to shipboard incidents such as a man overboard or
certain sexual assault situations. This team provides a
resource we can dispatch with strong investigative credentials
to assist in supporting the needs of Government investigators,
understanding how an incident occurred and what steps we can
take to prevent a recurrence.
Given the input that we have received from the Subcommittee
and our incident survivors, we have required this team to
include highly skilled female investigators who will greatly
add to our efforts to understand and prevent sexual assault
incidents.
In July, we contracted with a separate outside expert for
the development of incident metrics to facilitate the
preventive approach to shipboard security I spoke of a moment
ago. If we can better understand the underlying causes of
incidents, we will be better able to target them for
elimination.
In July and August of this year, we hired three additional
experienced investigators, including two women, as full time
members of my global security department's investigative team.
These career professionals along with their director bring more
than 80 years of investigative experience to the company and
form a team whose past assignments include the handling of
sexual assault investigations and strong experience working
with international law enforcement partners.
Finally, next week, we will complete our annual security
officers training seminar. This year, we will include
presentations by the Family Assistance Foundation in addition
to instruction from the FBI that they normally receive. During
this session, security officers will receive training on topics
such as incident reporting requirements, incident prevention,
incident response, evidence preservation, conflict resolution,
guest care, victim concerns, intelligence, terrorism and
security countermeasures. They will also become the first
Government-licensed security officials in the cruise industry.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, these are only 5 examples of
the 24 initiatives that we have implemented since the last
hearing and which are further detailed in my written testimony.
At Royal Caribbean, we strive to provide an exceptional and
safe vacation experience for our guests. We succeed in the vast
majority of our guest experiences. However, in those instances
when a crime does occur, we want to ensure that our guests and
their families are appropriately cared for and that persons
responsible are effectively investigated and that steps are
taken to learn from and hopefully prevent the incident from
happening again.
I look forward to our continuing partnership with incident
survivors, corporate and industry partners, and Government
agencies and to providing updates to you, Mr. Chairman and
other Members of the Subcommittee as desired.
Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today, and I
am happy to respond to any questions you may have.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Ms. Rey.
Ms. Rey. Chairman Cummings and Members of the Committee,
good afternoon.
Mr. Cummings. Good afternoon.
Ms. Rey. My name is Vicky Rey, and I am the Vice President
of Reservations Administration for Carnival Cruise Lines. I am
also the Lead Executive for the Carnival Care Team.
Before I go on, Mr. Chairman, I want to take a moment to
acknowledge the losses and experiences of the families here
today. My thoughts are with you.
Thank you for allowing me to participate today. We value
your concern over the level of care that is given to guests and
families when they unexpectedly find their vacation disrupted
by an unfortunate event. We share your concern and appreciate
the opportunity to inform you of what Carnival does to take
care of our guests when this occurs.
This is my first congressional hearing, and I am honored to
be here, representing the 500 men and women that represent the
Carnival Care Team. During the past 26 years, I have held
various passenger traffic management positions and have served
in my present capacity for 17 years. I have led Carnival's Care
Team since 1999, since its genesis in 1999.
The Care Team was originally organized to handle critical
incidents of mass guest displacement primarily caused from a
cancellation or alteration of a cruise as a result of a
mechanical or weather-related factor. Since then, it has
evolved into a team of broadly trained individuals who respond
on a regular basis to incidents involving medical or
bereavement debarks or some other form of unexpected tragedy.
Our mission is to provide compassionate care and practical
support to guests who find themselves at a time of significant
trauma or crisis. Our goal is to provide them with an
environment where they can begin the healing process while they
complete their business with us and move on with their lives.
As a corporation, we have learned that we have great power
to help individuals succeed in their ability to transcend a
tragedy by the care and compassion we show them in the
aftermath of a crisis. We have made a conscious effort to
provide this kind of care not only because it is the right
thing to do but because we feel it is a privilege to help
someone who may be going through a life-altering situation
while vacationing with us.
Our Care Team training program is ongoing, aggressive and
comprehensive. Since last summer, we have trained 1,470
employees over the course of 368 hours. This includes our large
core group of family escorts and support services personnel,
most of the shoreside management, our captains, staff captains,
chief engineers, hotel directors, chief pursers and chief
security officers.
Furthermore, several hundred of our call center employees
were trained on how to empathically communicate with affected
guests or relatives who may be trying to reach us
telephonically. An additional group received training on next
of kin notification skills in the event that we need to inform
relatives of a critical event.
Finally, we are now adding greater focus to the training of
port agents and ground services personnel who often act as an
extension of us when time and distance are factors. An
additional 80 training hours are planned for the balance of
this year, bringing our total number of trained staff to 1,760.
Our goal remains to partner with other lines in expanding
awareness and training to all of our crew and to our vast
network of port agents.
Our training is based on core Care Team principles that
identify the basic needs of an individual when they are in the
acute phase of trauma, usually occurring within the first 72
hours. Research has indicated that despite our personal and
cultural differences, at the onset of trauma, we all have very
similar needs when we grieve or hurt. We have learned that the
sharing of sorrow makes for a very powerful bond and that our
own personal losses and experiences make us well equipped to be
able to help others who may be hurting in a similar way.
Since May of last year, our Care Team has assisted 163
families. The majority of these involved medical emergencies.
During this same period, Carnival has served 4.7 million
guests.
When our Care Team is activated, we travel to different
destinations wherever we needed to assist in providing
emotional support, basic needs like clothing and food,
connections with loved ones, lodging and transportation
arrangements. In general, we run interference and provide
guidance when others' coping mechanisms may be compromised.
Lastly, I want to share with you that we are passionate
about our level of commitment to this program, and we want to
do everything possible to continue increasing awareness in our
own company but within the industry as well. This year, we have
partnered with the Family Assistance Foundation and just last
May were co-sponsors of their annual symposium that brought
together survivors and members of the industry in a forum that
encouraged education and understanding.
In August, we participated in a CLIA-hosted meeting where
we once again met with survivors in order to learn from their
experiences. Carnival is an active participant in CLIA's
working group with families and with CLIA's guest assistance
committee to determine industry best practices.
In closing, let me just say that I am extremely proud of
Carnival's progress in the Care Team area as well as in the
industry. Let me assure you that we are firmly committed to
continuing to do the right thing.
Thank you.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Mr. Morgan.
Mr. Morgan. Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the
Committee, my name is Jeff Morgan and I am President and Co-
Founder of the Family Assistance Foundation. My colleague,
another co-founder, Dr. Carolyn Coarsey, was unable to be here
with you today, so she has provided her statement both written
and on DVD which I believe is available to the Committee.
In 2000, Dr. Carolyn Coarsey and I co-founded the Family
Assistance Foundation for the purpose of helping organizations
provide a higher level of response to survivors during
tragedies. The purpose of the Foundation is to provide
education, training and organized mutual aid at a time of
tragedy.
The cornerstone of the Foundation is to promote open
dialogue between survivors and employee helpers. We encourage
family and passenger survivors to tell the stories in an
educational format so that they themselves can train employees
on what is needed by survivors during these vulnerable times.
I am here today to tell you about our work with the cruise
industry over the past two years. At the Foundation, our
interviews conducted by my colleague, Dr. Coarsey, continue to
show that when employees are empowered to help survivors, they
have a tremendous opportunity to influence how survivors heal
from their losses. These interviews form the basis of all the
training that we offer as we believe the true experts on the
subject of how best to assist survivors are the survivors
themselves.
In 2005, Dr. Coarsey began interviewing survivors of cruise
line tragedies. Shortly thereafter, she began developing
specific training materials for the cruise line industry such
as those that Vicky mentioned just a moment ago. These
materials incorporate lessons learned from survivors including
the family members of persons who were missing overboard,
family members of deceased passengers and guests who become
involved in various tragedies while on a cruise ship.
Here, at the Foundation, we have seen a very aggressive
response by the cruise line industry to the problem of
empowering employees to assist survivors by offering many
different training programs, using the video interviews and
written materials incorporating all these lessons learned.
Dr. Coarsey has personally provided awareness education to
more than 4,000 employees in the cruise line industry. She has
trained a wide range of personnel, and one of the reasons that
she is unable to be with us is we have an aggressive schedule
really for the remainder of the year with Royal Caribbean,
Celebrity, Carnival, Princess, Holland America and P&O Cruises.
The personnel that we train include executives, care team
employees, telephone responders, employees who will notify the
next of kin of guests who experience a tragedy while on the
ship. It also includes security personnel, safety officers,
captains and other onboard staff. The goal is to provide some
level of awareness to every single employer who might interface
with a survivor during any crisis.
In addition to the training that we have conducted earlier
this year, the Foundation's annual symposium featured two
educational panels on cruise line-related issues. The first
panel involved family members and guests who had survived
cruise line tragedies prior to this training. The second panel
involved survivors of tragedies following the newer programs
that have been implemented.
We observed a significant difference in outcomes between
the two groups. Survivors who were empowered by trained
employees and offered every form of assistance possible were
still healing from the losses of loved ones, but they did not
have to cope with the anger and hostility generated by a lack
of understanding.
We believe that it is important to listen to every single
survivor. We encourage the industry to listen and learn from
each person who has experienced tragedy, those who had negative
experiences with employees before the education as well as the
positive ones.
The Family Assistance Foundation continues to support the
continuing dialogue between the cruise line industry and
survivors. We know the industry is listening and learning from
survivors. We were part of the meeting in August and were
honored to facilitate that meeting, and we know most of the
comments were negative. However, the cruise line industry sat
and listened.
In closing, I can assure you that the Family Assistance
Foundation will continue to do all that we can to support our
cruise industry members and the cruise industry overall in
improving how guests and their families are supported following
these tragic events that occur in conjunction with cruises.
Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony,
and I will be glad to answer any questions that you might have.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Let me, first of all, go to you, Mr. Bald. I was looking at
your testimony. You talked about things that you all are doing,
and it looks like you are doing some pretty good things.
This formally establishing a security career path and
related job descriptions for our shipboard security teams, can
you talk about that?
Mr. Bald. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, sir. What we have done is we have taken a look at what
we have been doing onboard the ship in the way of security
processes, and we have taken a look at where we need to be. We
have adjusted our requirements for the positions of security
guard and security supervisor and for the deputy position
onboard our ships and the security officer himself.
What we intend to do is make sure that we change the
processes onboard the ship and then be able to hold people
accountable, and we needed to make sure we defined what those
responsibilities were before we could move forward in making
sure that they implement the things that we are asking them to
implement.
I would be more than happy to provide you copies of what we
put together in the way of job descriptions for the folks
onboard our ships if that would be informative for you.
Mr. Cummings. I want to go back to this whole idea of
evidence preservation. I am hoping that the industry, if it has
not already, will. It sounds like this FBI DVD, I think Ms.
Matsui talked about it a bit and I talked about it. I am not
sure that that is sufficient.
I am asking you all since you are a former FBI agent. It
seems like you ought to be able, if you haven't already,
develop a protocol with regard to evidence. I am assuming there
may be at least two different types of protocol, one for
certain kinds of crimes and then one for sexual crimes because
I think the sexual assaults and probably other types of
assaults maybe have certain elements that other crimes don't
have. Going to the person, that is.
So I am just wondering. Is that a part of this training
that you talked about a little earlier? If it is not, are you
all willing to do that?
Mr. Bald. Yes.
Mr. Cummings. I see Mr. Dale shaking his head. Since I see
a nod in the affirmative, I don't want you to be quiet. Do you
want to say something?
Mr. Dale. Absolutely. First, let me say that when it comes
to safety and security, our 24 cruise line members do not
compete. It is in our best interest to make sure that we are
providing the safest vacation possible. So I have personally
experienced the training by one of our cruise line members, and
we spent an entire day with FBI representatives and Coast Guard
representatives, going through the protocol that you just
talked about.
So, yes, the DVD is a good step, but there needs to be
additional processes when it comes to our training, and we are
taking those next steps. Our cruise line members do have
protocols in their security training manuals, and we place just
a huge emphasis and priority on this.
Mr. Bald. Mr. Chairman, if I may, to respond to your
question, on our training protocols, we actually have involved
the FBI in our training for a period of years. This year's
training for our security officers begins next week. There is a
one day block, one full day block by the FBI.
It includes not only experts who respond to the ship,
actually the ones responsible for overseeing the FBI agents who
go to the ships on how they respond and what they expect when
they get there. It also includes a half-day presentation by the
FBI's evidence response teams over what constitutes evidence,
where it may be found and what condition they want to see it in
when they arrive at the ship.
To your question on the differing evidence handling
processes depending on whether it is a sexual assault or not,
what I have attempted to do is to find a process for our
security officers that I expect them to adhere to for how they
respond to any incident.
In the situation of sexual assault, there is an adjunct to
that, and that involves the responsibilities of the medical
staff. Certainly, the collection of evidence, the only area
that I am expecting our ships to play a role in for collection
purposes is in the medical facility when they are actually
examining a woman who has been the victim of a sexual assault.
The rest of my instruction policies and training are geared
towards the effective preservation of evidence.
However, having the FBI explain the collection processes
allows my team onboard the ships to be able to respond if, for
example, the evidence that needs to be collected is in an area
that is perishable, for example, outdoors. Then what I want is
for the FBI to actually directly provide the guidance to our
security officer as to exactly what they want done, but I want
them to have a framework of understanding before that
instruction comes.
So this is the backbone of what we are providing in next
week's training.
Mr. Cummings. On my way over here when we were coming back
from the vote, I was telling Ms. Matsui that if I were to
guess, if I were to guess, I would imagine that women make the
decisions with regard to a family on this cruise. Now we men
think we make the decisions, but they probably make the
decisions.
It seems to me that the industry would want women to feel
very comfortable about whatever goes on, on a ship. To me, it
is just logical, and so I think some of the steps that you are
taking are very important.
Mr. Dale, going back to you, now you announced in your
testimony that CLIA will be establishing a survivor working
group that will meet quarterly and will be comprised of
survivors of cruise incidents, senior level cruise line
executives and CLIA executives. Can you describe the goal of
that group and what kind of specific agenda items?
Are you all going to be just rehashing the same things over
and over again? Because what happens is that people get tired
of that. People, all of us, like to feel that we are making
progress or we lose hope. When we lose hope, trust goes along
with it, by the way, so then you have nothing.
Go ahead.
Mr. Dale. Exactly. Yes, let me shed some light on our
working group. The goal is really going to be solution-focused,
and we want to engage and hear from as many victims as
possible. We have done that throughout the course of this
summer.
As you have heard, we have had an opportunity to review the
ICVA 10-point plan. The DiPieros have submitted some very valid
ideas for consideration.
Mr. Cummings. Are you in agreement with any of that 10-
point plan?
Mr. Dale. We agree from a conceptual standpoint, but how we
get to the end result is where we need to continue this
dialogue. So that is the purpose of this working group is to
focus on how do we get the solutions to provide the safest
vacation in the industry today.
Mr. Cummings. I am going to come back, but I want to ask
you this one last thing.
If you really listened to the witnesses, they were feeling
pretty good. They were feeling pretty good. They went to the
meeting. They were probably a little skeptical. It seemed like
everything was coming along real good. Ms. Hudson said she felt
real nice about it, like things were moving. Then it seemed
like the bottom just dropped out.
One of the problems that happens, and you can explain to me
what happened, but one of the things that happens is that
whenever something like that happens, it is almost like you are
at level ground as far as trust, but then the person goes
underground. So to get that trust back up, they have got to
fight to get back up.
Basically, what you are doing is you are wasting time
because they have got to get back up here just to be on level
ground to even be able to trust.
I am thinking that you have got the victims and their
families who have said, we really want to work this thing out.
We were really feeling good about these folks, the industry,
and then it seemed like we were left kind of hanging.
Can you talk about that because, to me, that is key?
Mr. Dale. Absolutely.
Mr. Cummings. This is not legislative stuff. This is basic
human relationship stuff.
Mr. Dale. Exactly. I agree.
At the August 14th meeting, at the end, we decided that it
makes all the sense in the world to establish this working
group. I indicated then it would take us 30 days. We needed to
go out, identify who would like to be a part of the group. So
we said, in two weeks, please let us know if you would like to.
Two weeks came. We had a lot of people raise their hand,
many of them ICVA members, but we hadn't heard from Ken Carver
and Son Michael Pham. So I contacted them again and said, we
are going to extend it another week. Hopefully, you can
determine that this is a good use of your time.
That was last Friday. I did get an email this Monday,
saying that their Subcommittee that they established hadn't
decided yet whether or not to participate.
So we are ready to move forward. The invitation to Ken and
Son Michael Pham and anybody is open, and we would ask that
they consider to join this group because we are ready to move.
Mr. Cummings. Mr. LaTourette.
Mr. Bald. Mr. Chairman, may I just add one comment to this?
I am sorry to interrupt you.
Mr. Cummings. Yes.
Mr. Bald. The perception that we have done nothing since
the last meeting is really not correct, but it is
understandable from the folks who attended that meeting because
we haven't articulated the progress that we have made and we
look forward to being able to do that.
Mr. Cummings. Give me right now. Why don't you do this?
Mr. Bald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Cummings. I know you have done it to a degree in your
testimony. Just give me, like rattle off the top of your head,
if you can what you consider to have been accomplished.
Mr. Bald. I can.
Mr. Cummings. Another one of these human things, a lot of
times we are not communicating. One person hears one thing, and
another person hears another thing. Somehow there is a
disconnect.
Mr. Bald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Cummings. So can you just tell us off the top of your
head what you feel has been accomplished since our last
hearing.
Mr. Bald. Yes, sir. What I would like to do, if you don't
mind, is to use an example from Ms. Laurie Dishman if that is
okay with Ms. Dishman. I know that she is here.
It is a great example of the importance of our interaction
with individual incident survivors. Ms. Dishman has provided me
a list of 12 recommendations, and I am prepared to go through
each one of them if that is what you would like me to do. I
have actually accepted and moved forward on seven of those
twelve. They are exceptional recommendations. They were well
thought out. They are definable, and I can put them into
effect.
For example, the one thing that has been most important I
think, perhaps in my view, from Ms. Dishman is Royal Caribbean
ships up to this point do not have peepholes in the doors of
their ships. It is something that it seems perhaps common sense
that we do that. It is something that hasn't been to the
attention of the company.
Ms. Dishman made that recommendation. I had the discussion
with our executive committee. There was overwhelming agreement.
In fact, the comment from our Chairman was, you know hotels do
this. We have got to do it.
So we have actually made the decision to install peepholes
on our ships. We are starting with the two ships that are in
new build.
We are continuing with another one in October. That one is
a bit more of a challenge. It is the first of our existing
fleet that we will be installing peepholes on. There is a very
rigid process we have to go through when we are drilling into a
door on a ship because it is a fire-rated door.
Mr. Cummings. Okay. Take me to number two.
Mr. Bald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Cummings. So you are working on that one?
Mr. Bald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Cummings. You are doing it?
Mr. Bald. Yes, sir.
CCTV installation, I testified in March of our expansion
process, a $25 million expansion. That process will also
include cameras in the corridors for guest staterooms.
Mr. Cummings. That are monitored?
Mr. Bald. The monitoring is a different challenge. That is
one of the ones on Ms. Dishman's list that I can't tell you I
am moving forward on right now. The challenge there is we have
over 650 cameras on some of our ships. To monitor all of those
full time is a monstrous task, plus you bring into
consideration the attention span of the people that are
actually sitting at the monitor.
What I need to do first, this goes back to my metrics
discussion that I mentioned earlier. I need to understand, are
there certain cameras that I need to monitor that are more
important than others and then look at whether or not we can
effectively deliver that capability. So I have not rejected
that by any means. I just don't simply have enough internal
information to be able to commit to doing it today.
Mr. Cummings. Three?
Mr. Bald. Increased number of security guards on our ships,
for example.
Mr. Cummings. Tell me, these are Ms. Dishman's?
Mr. Bald. These are Ms. Dishman's, yes.
Mr. Cummings. Okay, go ahead. Number three?
Mr. Bald. Increased number of security guards on our ships.
In Ms. Dishman's situation, a very unfortunate set of
circumstances, an absolutely tragic situation and an
unfortunate perfect storm type set of circumstances.
But we ended up, on our ships we have a set number of
positions in every component including security. There are
certain functions that are more of a regulatory function, my
word, that don't require a high level of security experience,
for example, checking IDs at the door of the discos to make
sure people are old enough to go in and consume alcohol. It is
a bouncer type of a service that we wouldn't put a police
officer on necessarily in a bar here on the shore.
Unfortunately, the processes in place at the time, in my
view, didn't adequately vet the people that we were using in
that situation. We also, in that particular situation, I
understand, provided a security badge for them to wear because
they were performing in that function.
I have changed that. No longer do we give badges to these
part time security search people.
We also require security officers to do a background
investigation on them which is rather easy. It is a review of
personnel files, looking at any issues that are in their
personnel file or any reason why they would not be the right
person to be able to stand in front of a disco, for example,
and check identification.
Mr. Cummings. Four?
Mr. Bald. I combined two. One of those was security badges.
It was a separate recommendation from her which we have
implemented.
Mr. Cummings. All right. Five?
Mr. Bald. I will go through hers in order rather than skip
around if you don't mind. We talked about number four which was
monitoring the CCTV. Still more work that I have to do in order
to be able to make decisions on that. It is a fair
recommendation.
The fifth one is peepholes.
The sixth one is background checks. This one is another
example of where her input is tremendously helpful.
The recommendation from the ICVA is to form what I think
the law would describe as a black list. A black list is
traditionally illegal in most States. Federal law has
incorporated that in a variety of areas. The concept, we agree
with.
What we don't want, I don't want to hire somebody that was
dismissed by Carnival. Carnival doesn't want to hire somebody
that was dismissed from me. But putting together a common
database presents problems, and so we have looked at that
internally from a legal standpoint. We have also had our
attorneys look at the legal perspective that was provided to us
by the ICVA.
The decision was that their legal research was legally
deficient. I am not being critical, but it did not bridge the
gap sufficiently for us to move in the direction of a database.
However, in Ms. Dishman's situation, she has provided an
opportunity for us to perhaps close this gap that our lawyers
are looking at, and that suggests we build in another
background step in the application process for our crew members
to check the other cruise lines to see if they have been
employed before. We certainly have to make sure what we are
doing is legal, but to me that seems a very reasonable
recommendation and one that came from Ms. Dishman.
Mr. Cummings. Seven?
Mr. Bald. Seven is the presence of United States marshals
onboard cruise ships. I would like to come back to that at the
end if I can. If you would like me to go through the detail,
that is a very important one, and I have a lot of, I think,
relevant information for the Committee that I can add.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Mr. LaTourette.
Mr. LaTourette. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and
thank all of you for being here.
This being our second hearing on this subject, I come away
from these hearings that the cruise experience is a nice way to
have a vacation, but sometimes things happen. I think again,
for me, the crux of it and perhaps why you find yourselves with
some difficulties.
I was glad, Mr. Bald, you ended on employees because I was
going to ask you. This Committee and the Homeland Security
Committee have the idea of this Transportation Worker
Identification card, the TWIC. Not only not hiring somebody
that has been a problem on another cruise line but I would
imagine just simple background checks. You don't want to hire
people with criminal histories that would suggest that they
might engage in criminal conduct.
If Mr. Carver was right and 80 percent of the reported
criminal activities are committed by employees, it seems to me
that you have it within your power to at least reduce that
based upon background checks and other employment techniques.
The second are safety and training things that are ongoing,
and I commend you for undertaking those. I will come back to
that in a minute.
But the third one is basically the way people are treated.
I don't think that we would be having as many complaints as
have been evidenced at these hearings if people felt that they
weren't being victimized a second time. That is why I am glad
you brought in some victim's assistance people.
Mr. Ruchelman's story was horrible, to lose his wife in an
accident, but if everybody was treated the way Mr. Ruchelman
was treated, we wouldn't be having this conversation probably.
We would still be talking about peepholes and keys and things
like that, but we wouldn't be talking about other things.
So I really, truly hope that there is nothing that the
cruise line industry can do to keep a bad person that happens
to be on a ship, not an employee, that chooses to do a bad
thing. But how you treat that person after that bad thing has
happened, I really think pays big dividends and then stops from
having some of the stories that we have listened to in the last
hearings.
Mr. Dale, I do want to ask you. The Chairman asked you
about the 10 points. I am familiar with the 10 points that Mr.
Carver has.
I am familiar with Ms. DiPiero's observations. We started
going through some of those with netting and sensors and
raising the railings and things like that.
We heard from Mr. Sullivan about apparently his peephole
concern is being taken care of at least on one line but the
issue of having people have pass keys when they are not on
duty, that can come into somebody's room when they are
sleeping.
So there is a body, a list out there. I commend the
industry for working on it, but I guess I also would
acknowledge that Mr. Sullivan does have a point, that there
have been a lot of good ideas around for a long time and how
come we are just now getting to the point where we are adopting
some of them.
The Chairman has schooled me here pretty well.
So Mr. Carver and these other folks get back to you and say
we want to participate in your working group. Is it your
intention to look at all these good ideas and, as Mr. Bald has
just indicated, accept things and move forward and get them off
the table, to move these complaints?
If you can't, you haven't reached a conclusion you can't
but on the camera issue where there are 650 cameras and maybe
you just can't logistically do what the idea is. I would say
just because something bad has happened to somebody and they
have an idea doesn't mean it is a good idea, but the ability to
listen to all those ideas, sort them out.
Is the industry committed to adopting the ideas that are
generated by this working group and implementing those that
make sense, improve the safety of the ship, improve the
cruising experience, make people feel like they are being
treated better, help to hopefully solve crimes if they are
unfortunately committed on the ships and, if you can't, please
come back and tell folks why you can't do it?
Mr. Dale. Absolutely. Our commitment is to work with the
ICVA and our working group on their recommendations as well as
others that we have heard.
I think a prime example of this is undertraining. In ICVA's
proposal, they list parts of crime scene management and
protocols. Those steps, we are presently using, and the FBI is
training our security officials on those steps. So we are doing
that and we intend to, through Ken and the others who
participate with us, make progress and get solutions on these.
Another area, Lynnette Hudson, a tragedy at sea, and our
heart goes out to her and everyone. But after all of the four
investigations, the recommendation that came back was to
replace the combustible dividers on the decks of our ships. We
are almost 100 percent there in having all of these replaced.
The deadline for this is July of 2008, and we will be there
very soon.
So this working group is an opportunity for us to talk
about the progress we are making and to determine what is the
workable solution for all of us.
Mr. LaTourette. I think she is a good example of not only
was it the combustible things and then she talked a little bit
about self-contained breathing devices, but to have a 911 room
where nobody is answering the telephone is like having a fire
station with no firemen and nobody on the telephone.
I think that there are things within reach that address
some of the concerns that have been raised at this hearing and
at the March hearing that are within your power to do it, and I
would just hope that you continue to move in what I consider,
and I give Chairman Cummings all the credit in this for getting
the ball rolling on this.
I know some people may not think it is moving fast enough
or should have been done a long time ago, but I am encouraged
by what you are doing. I would hope that it continues to move
in a positive direction and those things that are within your
ability to do to make it safer.
I don't know how it benefits. I don't subscribe to the
testimony that somehow it is in your corporate best interest to
have crimes go unsolved on your boats. So I hope you continue
to do that.
Ms. Rey, this being your first hearing, you did a swell
job. So thank you very much.
Mr. Cummings. Ms. Brown.
Ms. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of
questions.
I also listened to Ms. Hudson's testimony about the fire.
As we get on the plane, they go through these procedures. Can
you tell us, have you all done some additional procedures as
far as explaining to people when they come on the ships in case
of it may not be a fire?
It could be a terrorist attack. It could be anything. What
are the procedures? I know that you do have some as far as if
the ship goes down, what things to do, but as far as a fire is
concerned.
Also on notification, she indicated that she was not
notified until nine hours afterwards, and I know you must have
a procedure in place. She was listed as the next of kin, and
she did not receive that information.
Even following that up, someone needs to have contacted her
and gone over what had happened and provided that grief
information that you talked about.
Ms. Rey. I can speak to the notification piece. I am very
sorry to Ms. Hudson and the rest of her family because she did
not receive the call that she should have gotten from Princess
Cruise Lines. I can't speak for them.
I can tell you that at Carnival Cruise Lines, we offer any
assistance possible in assisting the family and making those
notifications. I can tell you, however, because the wife was
present, that we would have relied on her being the one to
initiate the contact with the family, make the initial
notification. Following that, we offer assistance in notifying
anybody else, but that initial contact generally comes from the
person who is accompanying the individual on the ship.
Ms. Brown. Okay. So I guess CLIA should have overall
procedures for everybody.
Ms. Rey. Well, that is one of the things that we are
working on now is partnering with each other, and it is part of
this working group so that we can all come together and
establish a template that we can all work from, establishing
those best practices.
Ms. Brown. Okay.
Mr. Dale. Actually, we have established a committee at CLIA
on aftercare and guest care. So we expect some very positive
results from that.
To get to your issue about what process is in place on
board our ships, there is a mandatory muster drill that every
passenger must be a participant and present at. At that drill,
we go through safety and security procedures in the case of
emergencies.
In the cabins, there is a video that is played 24 hours
after departure, that again reiterates those messages. There is
written collateral materials in the rooms as well. So we work
very hard to make sure that our customers are familiar with
what they have as their resources.
Ms. Brown. There used to be a drill. Do you all still have
that drill?
Mr. Dale. Yes, absolutely.
Ms. Brown. So you still have that drill.
Another thing, we were talking about the cameras. I just
returned from London where they have cameras all over the
place, and one of the things I found very interesting was that
they destroy the film within 14 days because of the privacy
unless there is an incident. They can get some extensions.
Part of being on a cruise is maybe you don't want everybody
to know that you are on the cruise.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Brown. How are you planning on handling the film is my
question because, as I said, after a certain period of time, by
law, they have to destroy that film.
Mr. Bald. The retention of----
Ms. Brown. I am sorry. I think that was true not just in
London. It was true in Europe in talking about how they handle
these cameras and the film that they receive from the cameras.
They do have monitors, and it is a big process in monitoring
these situations.
Mr. Bald. Yes, the retention process is a challenging one
for us from a technical standpoint. It is not a problem for us
at all if we know that there is an incident that has occurred.
Our process, let me qualify that. We do retain the video, but
our new CCTV process is going to put us completely into a
digital retention arena.
We don't have that today. We have a mix of analog and
digital cameras with digital recorders now. The cameras we are
adding are digital, but the volume of material that is captured
in a digital recording is very, very large. And so, there is a
limit to how much storage capability we have onboard.
Where we will be challenged is if someone comes forward
perhaps, say, six months later and says that I had an incident
onboard. I, frankly, think we will not find video that will
have captured that.
However, for the immediately reported incidents, that is
not going to be a problem, and we actually have storage devices
that are available for our teams that will respond to the ship.
They will literally go with a portable storage device, download
the appropriate video, the video that relates to the incident,
and they will literally bring it back to Miami for us, and we
will retain it.
Ms. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
holding this hearing.
I think the industry is headed in the right direction, and
I want to thank the participants for their participation.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you, Ms. Brown.
Mr. Coble.
Mr. Coble. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good to have you all with us today. Good to have had all
the witnesses with us today.
I will put this question to any member of the panel. Much
has been said today regarding how crimes are reported and the
jurisdiction extended to the FBI to prosecute said crimes. I
assume the answer to this question is yes. Do victims of crimes
have recourse under the civil justice system as well?
I assume that is in the affirmative.
Mr. Dale. Absolutely, they do have recourse.
Mr. Coble. I will put this question to any of the panelists
as well. It is my understanding, Mr. Chairman, that the
industry is currently working to develop a sensor for rails
that will activate or detect through the sound of an alarm or
whatever when a person goes overboard.
Number one, is that accurate and, number two, how far
advanced is it?
Mr. Bald. Congressman Coble, that is an excellent question.
It is fraught with challenges for today's technology, but it
holds promise for us in the future. The technology, as it
currently exists, in particular, radio frequency
identification, does not permit the kinds of applications that
you are referring to.
Where you have a rail alarm, for example, and you want to
detect somebody going overboard who is on the ship, there are a
couple of possible solutions that don't involve an electronic
sensor, for example, on the railing of the ship. Virtual
perimeters from cameras that are located on the outside areas,
for example, the bridge wings of the ship, provide us a vantage
point to be able to look down the sides of the ship and be able
to determine if somebody goes overboard.
There are some limitations and there are some challenges
because unfortunately you can't get outside the ship and look
in and ships are often curved. So we have got to make sure that
our camera locations will work. We are in the process of
testing that technology to see if it is viable for us to
install onboard the ships.
From the standpoint of other technical possibilities, radio
frequency identification is possible down the road. Today, you
have an active or a passive solution. Passive requires you to
be very close to a sensor. Active requires you to be farther
away, but you are talking about carrying a garage door opener
in your pocket, and it is much more challenging for us to
deliver that technology.
However, your point is well taken. We absolutely want to do
as much as we can to detect quickly if somebody goes overboard
on our ships, and we are looking at a number of technical
solutions that we think may prove fruitful.
Mr. Coble. These are works in progress, I take it.
Mr. Bald. Yes, sir.
Mr. Coble. Thank you.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you very much.
Ms. Matsui.
Ms. Matsui. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I read very carefully both Mr. Bald's and Mr. Dale's
testimony, and something kind of strikes me in that, Mr. Bald,
you mentioned that you are making some changes based upon some
of the conversations or emails you received from Laurie
Dishman. I commend you for that.
Some of these measures are pretty common sense--peepholes
and closed circuit televisions and background checks and things
of that nature--and I believe those were things that we could
have done quite some time ago. I believe that they are measures
that people had discussed, I guess, in 1999.
I wonder if you would be putting in these common sense
measures today if Laurie Dishman hadn't come along and
courageously spoke up and we had the hearings.
Now I am glad that we are moving forward on this, and you
are moving in the right direction. I am pleased with that. But
I must say that I think it is obviously a situation where some
of these things take a while, I suppose. There have been quite
a lot of recommendations and listening and lists and things of
that nature, but I think what we are interested in is results.
I also have to say too that my constituent, Laurie Dishman,
has written to me about the last six months she has been going
through. I would like unanimous consent to submit her letter
into the record.
Mr. Cummings. So ordered.
Mr. Bald. Thank you, Ms. Matsui. Oh, I am sorry. I
apologize.
Ms. Matsui. I would like to share something from this
letter because it appears that the same people responsible for
mishandling Laurie's case are still employed at Royal
Caribbean. Most disturbingly, when they were deposed, they
indicated that they still have not received adequate
instruction as to what they did wrong and how to properly
handle this situation in the future.
I would say that a common theme of the victims panel was
the concern that you still didn't get it. Would you please
respond to this issue?
Mr. Bald. Certainly. First of all, I believe that if you
ask that purser that question today, I hope that the answer
would be different.
That purser today has been required, and I will be
disappointed if you come back to me and tell me this didn't
happen, but I provided a DVD of Ms. Dishman's testimony with
mandatory viewing by the captain of every ship, the staff
captain of every ship, the security officer of every ship, the
medical department of every ship and the guest relations desk
personnel which includes the pursers to understand the trauma
that Ms. Dishman went through.
As an adjunct to that, on the training piece, the training
will be delivered to the security officers on Monday. The
policy changes are in place that I think will correct the
preservation of evidence issues that occurred in that
situation.
We have provided a DVD to the medical staff of every ship
for required viewing for the proper way to do the pelvic
examination kit. It is required training every two years. We
just implemented that with the DVD that was sent out to make
sure that they understand the problem there.
In the situation with Ms. Dishman, there were mistakes made
as I testified last time. One of the biggest ones was, in my
view, the security officer inadequately secured the cabin.
The mistake made by the doctor to misinterpret the
collection requirements for the pelvic examination kit is not
something I want to see happen, but I believe there is a way to
make sure it doesn't from the security officer's standpoint.
The pelvic examination kit gives instructions to collect
evidence from the victim that would be logically, in my
interpretation, logically being worn by the victim. In this
case, the doctor, for whatever reason, chose to ask her to go
back and collect some things that were not being worn.
It is absolutely wrong. It is not consistent with our
policy, and our security officer should have known better.
Our security officer will be coming in. Let me qualify
this, will be coming in one of two sessions either next week or
the one in December because we train the ones that are off the
ship, and then when there is a switch we get the ones that are
currently on the ship.
Every one of them will hear the kinds of points that you
are making today and very clearly understand what is expected
of them, and I expect that we won't have a recurrence. If we
do, I will take action accordingly.
One final point if you would permit me, you referenced and
it has been referenced earlier today in testimony, some
longstanding guidance that was provided to Royal Caribbean in
1999 by two reports that were commissioned by Royal Caribbean
to take a look at onboard sexual assault and sexual harassment
situations and to provide us recommendations for how we can get
ahead of that curve and resolve some of those problems.
I would like to read to you. I have a very short list of
the recommendations, and I will tell you on each one of them
what we have done.
The shoreside hotline is in place. Anybody onboard our
ships can pick up the phone and call a particular number and
report directly to Miami if there is an issue onboard the ship.
Remind management to report, that has been done personally
by me in conference calls to every captain, also present were
the staff captain and the security officer. It is a part of our
policies, and I will continue to reinforce it.
Mandatory sexual harassment training, the company, in my
view, before I got here had done an exceptional job of putting
together videos. These are professional productions. These are
not just a couple of folks like me standing in front of a video
camera on how to recognize situations and avoid situations that
could lead to sexual assault or sexual harassment.
The response checklist will be a mainstay of the security
department's policies onboard the ship.
Counselor and advocate for the victim, absolutely a
requirement that we have. You heard testimony earlier today
from Mr. Sullivan that no counselor was provided to his client.
That is untrue. It is untrue, and Mr. Sullivan knows it is
untrue because the counselor that was provided was the doctor
who is a female, who spent almost every moment with that victim
from the time she was reported to have been the victim until
she left the ship, including responding to her cabin within two
minutes of the recording or the documentation of the call to
the bridge.
The after-action teams in Miami was a recommendation by
that report as well. You saw in my testimony that that is
something we are implementing.
Notifying guests about socializing with the crew is a
change we are making in our guest conduct policy which will be
published for January, and we will make sure that our guests
understand the policy. We have gone overboard to make sure our
crew understands. We have not done that with our guests, and it
is something we will do very quickly.
On the Swailes report, stronger policy regarding crew-guest
sexual contact, we have taken that head-on, and I don't think
there is a crew member that doesn't understand that they can't
fraternize with our guests.
Train those who will respond. You have heard me testify and
you have seen in my testimony, that is an aggressive effort
that we are taking. We have been doing that for several years.
Train crew to prevent sexual encounters. That is exactly
what the prevention concept that I am putting in place is built
around. We have also been doing that in the videos that I
referred to earlier.
Post signs inside restricted areas on our ships. We have
done that on every single ship. You walk into any off-limits
crew area, and you will see a sign that tells a guest they are
not allowed to be there.
Additional CCTV cameras, you have heard me testify to that
is an aggressive process.
Increasing the number of guards is something that we have
done. I talked to your staff yesterday about this. My first
assessment is going to be quality, and I want to make sure the
quality is there. Then I am in a better position to decide if
the numbers are there.
Then finally, hotline to Miami for guidance in response is
also picked up from the Krohne report.
I would like to add one other comment on the Swailes
report. The findings that they had in their report said that
the incident rate for sexual assaults onboard ships is lower
than shoreside. This is a 1999 assessment, independent, from
outside of our company.
Common threats, consensual intimacy was preceded by
assault. I am sorry. Consensual intimacy preceded the assault
and intoxication by the victim was a challenge. By the way, I
am making no connections to any of this.
But to give you an idea, we have had this kind of input. We
have taken measures to respond to it, contrary to what you
heard in testimony earlier today.
Thank you for allowing me to go to that extent.
Ms. Matsui. Mr. Bald, that all sound very good, and you say
you have instituted those policies now. I really feel that it
is like a manual to a great degree. You can read it, but the
proof is in the pudding. The individuals who have been affected
so critically have to feel the same way too.
Comparisons, as far as sexual assaults on land versus sea,
I really don't believe they are really good comparisons, for
example, because on the sea you are in a huge cruise ship. You
can't get off. It is a little bit different. You don't have a
police force really.
My concern is I do not want this to be brushed aside at
all. I don't want to request from Chairman Cummings another
hearing because we have been hearing that things aren't
happening.
You relied on the input on victims. I am happy about that,
but I want to make sure it doesn't happen. The prevention
aspects of it have to be taken care of.
It so concerns me I almost want to feel like we need
another benchmark as to when we can have a report or whatever
we want to do that the industry, the unified industry itself is
going to, for instance, can you adopt unified reporting
requirements that you can release numbers to the public. That
would be reassuring to know that there is transparency there.
Mr. Cummings. Would the gentlelady yield?
Ms. Matsui. A lot of this happens to be transparency.
Mr. Cummings. Would the gentlelady yield?
Ms. Matsui. Yes.
Mr. Cummings. When we finish, I am going to lay out some
timetables not necessarily for a hearing. If a hearing is
required, we will go to a hearing but some timetables so that
we can get some things done and they will report back to us. I
just wanted to make sure you know.
Ms. Matsui. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that.
But you understand that there is a value to this hearing.
We talked about peepholes and closed circuit televisions, and
the Chairman also talked about monitoring them, the different
aspects. We want to keep this progress moving, and we want to
have certain benchmarks because I truly feel this is an
industry that is certainly something we want to promote, but
right now I am really feeling that we need to take care of a
few things.
I think it is to your benefit to do this. I think that
anytime we have some scrutiny like this and we find out that
there have been mistakes and you go ahead and fix it, certainly
you are going to be getting the support of many people here.
I am looking to the victims because they are the ones who
probably keep you pretty honest about this. So I thank you very
much for working with the victims, but remember this is not a
one or two step process. It is going to be ongoing. I
appreciate what you have been doing.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your commitment.
Mr. Cummings. I want to thank you, Ms. Matsui.
Let me say this to you, Ms. Matsui. This is the first time
in my almost 12 years in Congress that I have seen a Member sit
for an entire hearing on a Subcommittee that they weren't on,
and I think that shows a lot, particularly for a hearing that
has lasted this long. So I want to thank you for your advocacy.
I want to say to our witnesses. One question for you, Mr.
Dale. Who is invited to these meetings? Because Ms. Hudson, I
think. Was it you, Ms. Hudson who said you weren't invited
again, and I am sure some others.
Tell me who is invited to these meetings.
Mr. Dale. The invitation is to go to and has, I believe, to
all ICVA members. The Family Assistance Foundation has sent the
invitation to survivors that they have worked with, and our
cruise line members have also issued the invitation to
survivors that they work with as well.
Mr. Cummings. About how many people is that, victims? Do
you know?
Mr. Dale. Well, we have received word back from somewhere
around 10 saying that they would like to participate in this.
Mr. Cummings. Out of how many, would you say?
Mr. Dale. I don't know what that number is as far as what
the cruise lines issued themselves.
Mr. Cummings. How would somebody like Ms. Hudson not be on
the list? She said she didn't want to be, in other words, if
she came to one meeting and then wasn't invited back?
Mr. Dale. She was to be on the list.
Mr. Cummings. She was what?
Mr. Dale. She was to be on the list, and I apologize if she
did not get the invitation.
Mr. Cummings. All right, so you are going to be invited,
Ms. Hudson, is what he is trying to tell you.
When I walked, when I was on my way to vote, I looked to my
left and there is a board out there. I guess it is your father
with a Mason's cap on.
I just thought about something that I teach my kids.
Whenever they have disappointments because somebody let them
down, I tell them to think about how they feel at that moment.
I want them to feel it, so if they ever let somebody down, that
they will know how they feel.
These folks who have come here, I have got to tell you. I
think that the victims folks have been very reasonable. I
really do. I think that they have reached out and tried. I mean
they are just reaching and reaching and reaching and reaching,
and I think they are getting the feeling at times that there
are some reaching going on by the industry but maybe you are
not reaching far enough.
This is just my assessment of listening to everything that
I have heard. I think that the industry has reached, but I
think we have a little bit further to go.
I agree with Ms. Matsui that more needs to be done, but I
don't want us to underestimate--I want to say this to the
victims groups--that a lot has already been done. I don't want
that to go by because it has. I mean Mr. Bald and Mr. Dale, the
things that you all testified to and then in your written
piece.
There is one thing you may have mentioned, but I didn't
hear you. You may have. It said to ensure that shipboard
medical staff are familiar with the proper procedures for
administering the pelvic exam and that kind of thing. You may
have mentioned it, but I didn't hear it in the seven things. I
don't know whether that was one of Ms. Dishman's
recommendations or not.
What I am saying to you is that I think sometimes we have a
tendency to think lack when we ought to think abundance, to
think negative when we ought to think positive. So I think I
want to see us as moving forward. We are a lot further, victims
groups, than we were before.
I think the industry, going back to what Ms. Matsui said, I
am going to tell you. I just think it is good business to say
we are doing these good things to make sure. I mean saying to
the public, we don't want things to happen. We are doing
everything in our power to make sure you have got the safest
possible opportunity. But if something happens, we guarantee
you that we are doing X, Y and Z.
To me, it just makes sense because the American people and
people all over, people have common sense. They know things are
going to happen. They know it. They don't want it to happen.
They don't want things to happen to them, but they know it.
And it goes back to this thing that Mr. LaTourette said. It
is about how you treat people. This is not rocket scientist
stuff. The Bible says, and I hate to quote the Bible but I have
got to, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This
is basic, how you treat other people.
I think maybe, even with all of this that we are doing,
when personnel is insensitive to those kinds of things, that is
a problem. One thing we need to do is make sure personnel is
very sensitive. Look, I know the industry is concerned about
its reputation, but one of the best ways to have a great
reputation is when you treat people like you like to be
treated. I am telling you.
Maybe that is part of the problem, maybe, but I hope you
will keep that in mind.
Now we have had a lot of discussion here. What I want to do
is take a look and see where we are in 90 days. I don't plan to
call a hearing, but I would like to have some type of report so
that we can see where and how we have progressed and what we
have accomplished.
It is my understanding, again, that we have had more
Members of Congress, so that you don't underestimate how
serious this is, who wanted people in their districts to
testify in this hearing than anything I have been involved in.
So it is serious business.
I think the Members of Congress are looking at it. When I
went back to vote, I had at least 12 or 13 Members just ask me
how is the hearing going. I mean this is the Subcommittee on
the Coast Guard. They know it.
Again, we want the industry to do well, and I think the
industry is doing extremely well. I think that when you look at
the statistics, they are, Mr. Dale, a small number, but in your
own words, one criminal act, one person harmed is one too many.
Then if it happens, we want to make sure that they are treated
right, as simple as that.
The same thing that I would want for my wife, I want for
any other woman. The same thing I would want for my dad, I want
for anybody else's dad. I think if we think about it like that,
then we can get much further along.
To Ms. Dishman, I want to thank you.
I think if we listen to what Mr. Bald said, he said that he
listened to her. Maybe he didn't accept everything, but there
are things that did come forth that he did use and is using.
I just want to make sure that the things we are in the
process of doing, that we get done. In other words, we bring
closure and say, this is done. Now let us move on to the next
thing. Done. Done. Done. Done.
Not just well, let us meet. Let us hurry up and meet. Meet.
Meet. Meet. Then the next thing you know, you look three years
later, and you are still meeting.
I want to make sure we get to some points where we have
done because in the time when things are not done, then other
problems may arise. When we talk about the image of the
industry, the last thing we want is to have more people banging
on my door, more Members of Congress saying, we want people to
testify because they have gone through some difficulties.
All I am saying is I think it is good business for us to
be, for the industry to be the best that it can be. Again, I
think that I do believe if we look at victims groups and say to
ourselves that they are trying to make things better, then with
that attitude I think we will accomplish a lot.
To all of you, I want to thank every single one of you for
going through this very, very, very long hearing.
I will look forward to, I guess from you, Mr. Dale, a
report. Don't forget Ms. Hudson, and there may be a few other
people that may have some things to contribute that may not
have been invited. I am sure they will let you know. You will
not get out of that door unless they tell you. I know they
will.
Thank you very much.
[Whereupon, at 5:22 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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