[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 242 (Monday, December 17, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65020-65022]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-31171]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG-2001-11137]


Maritime Security

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of meeting; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is holding a public workshop to discuss 
security procedures, programs, and capabilities within marine 
transportation systems. Discussions will focus on identifying possible 
security measures, standards, and responses to threats and acts of 
crime and terrorism. We encourage interested parties to attend the 
workshop and submit comments for discussion during the workshop. We 
also seek comments to the docket, especially from any party unable to 
attend the workshop.

DATES: The public workshop will be held on January 28 through 30, 2002, 
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at The Grand Hyatt Washington at Washington 
Center in Washington DC. We may end the workshop early, if we have 
covered all of the agenda topics and if the people attending have no 
further comments. Persons wishing to make presentations must contact 
CDR Mike Rand by January 7, 2002. Comments and related material must 
reach the Docket Management Facility on or before February 14, 2002.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the following location: Grand 
Hyatt Washington at Washington Center, 1000 H Street, NW., Washington 
DC., 20001, Phone (202) 582-1234.
    You may submit your comments directly to the Docket Management 
Facility. To make sure that your comments and related material do not

[[Page 65021]]

enter the docket [USCG-2001-11137] more than once, please submit them 
by only one of the following means:
    (1) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov/. 
    (2) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (3) By delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    (4) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, (USCG-2001-11137), 
U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
notice. Comments and material received from the public, as well as 
documents mentioned in this notice as being available in the docket, 
will become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or 
copying at room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 
Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays. You may also find this notice 
in the docket on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov/. Comments in the 
docket are available to the public for inspection and further comment, 
including proprietary information if submitted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning this notice 
or the public workshop, write or call CDR Mike Rand, at the Vessel and 
Facility Security Division (G-MP), U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 
Second Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590, [email protected], or at 
202-267-6853. For questions on viewing or submitting material to the 
docket, call Dorothy Beard, Chief of Dockets, Department of 
Transportation, at 202-366-5149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this workshop by submitting 
comments and related material. If you do so, please include your name 
and address, identify the docket number [USCG-2001-11137] and give the 
reason for each comment. You may submit your comments and material 
electronically, by fax, by delivery, or by mail to the Docket 
Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES; but please submit 
your comments and material by only one means. If you submit them by 
mail or delivery, submit them in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/
2\ by 11 inches, suitable for copying and electronic filing. If you 
submit them by mail and would like to know that they reached the 
Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or 
envelope. We will consider all comments and material received during 
the comment period.

Public Workshop

    The Coast Guard encourages owners and operators of vessels, 
offshore platforms, and facilities, agencies in law enforcement and 
emergency planning, port authorities, shipping agents, insurance 
companies, Protection and Indemnity Clubs, and other interested persons 
to attend the workshop. Workshop attendees will have the opportunity to 
verbally comment on topics scheduled for discussion on the agenda. We 
may ask questions to clarify comments given by an attendee. The 
workshop will be held January 28 through 30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each 
day at The Grand Hyatt Washington at Washington Center in Washington 
DC. Separate sessions discussing threats to the marine transportation 
system's security in such areas as physical security, operational 
measures, and access control will be held simultaneously each day to 
allow for comments and/or presentations on these topics. The completed 
agenda will be placed on the docket approximately two weeks before the 
workshop. We also will announce the availability of the agenda on the 
docket in a notice published in the Federal Register.
    For those wishing to make a presentation at the workshop, please 
notify CDR Mike Rand with the following information:
    (1) The topic you wish to talk about;
    (2) The date and time you would like to schedule the presentation; 
and
    (3) Any materials (such as video and audio equipment) you might 
need to conduct your presentation.
    Persons wishing to make presentations must contact CDR Mike Rand by 
January 7, 2002. Information on how to contact him is under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

Information on Services for Individuals With Disabilities

    To obtain information on facilities or services for individuals 
with disabilities or to ask that we provide special assistance at the 
workshop, please notify CDR Mike Rand at the address or phone number 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Background and Purpose

    The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the attack on USS 
COLE, a Navy ship moored in Yemen that killed 17 sailors and injured 37 
in October of 2000, make it clear that the marine transportation system 
faces unprecedented threats.
    The United States can ill afford to ignore the potential 
vulnerability of its marine transportation system (MTS). More than 95 
percent of U.S. foreign trade by volume now travels by sea. The MTS, 
whether at port facilities in coastal waters or along inland waterways, 
plays a vital role in America's transportation network.
    In addition, U.S. ports handle more than 17 million containers each 
year. Containers raise a specific concern because they are, by design, 
intermodal. A container unloaded at a port on one day is often deployed 
deep into America's heartland soon thereafter by truck or rail. With 
only a small percentage of those containers currently being inspected 
by federal agencies, the potentiality for illegal activities is 
enormous.
    Ports are not the only potential maritime targets; other such 
targets include but are not limited to--tank vessels, passenger 
vessels, cargo vessels, facilities for exploration and production of 
oil, power plants, bridges, other critical infrastructure, and the 
marine environment also need protection. Furthermore, the United States 
has more than 95,000 miles of coastline, providing many infiltration 
routes into the country.
    It is important to note that the Coast Guard and Congress were 
concerned about MTS security even before September 11, 2001. Indeed, 
the Port and Maritime Security Act was introduced at the close of the 
106th Congress. If passed, the Act would, among other things, authorize 
the Coast Guard to establish an MTS security task force in consultation 
with the U.S. Customs Service, and the Maritime Administration.
    The proposed Act was prompted by the work of the President's 
Interagency Commission on Crime and Security in U.S. Seaports, which 
subsequently issued a report highlighting the threats to our nation's 
ports. The Commission found that:
     The state of security in U.S. seaports generally ranges 
from poor to fair, and, in a few cases, good. There are no widely 
accepted standards or guidelines for physical, procedural, and 
personnel security for seaports, although some ports are making 
outstanding efforts to improve security. Control of access to the 
seaport or sensitive areas within it is often lacking. Practices to 
restrict or control the access of vehicles to vessels, the receipt and

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delivery of cargo, and the processing of passengers at seaports are 
either not present or not consistently enforced, increasing the risk 
that violators could quickly remove cargo or contraband. Many ports do 
not issue identification cards to personnel to restrict the access to 
vessels, the receipt and delivery of cargo, and the processing of 
passengers.
     Vessel manifests, import and export, are sometimes 
deficient for import risk assessment and export control. Information 
from them is easier to use for drug enforcement and commercial 
compliance if it is received as electronic data before the arrival of 
vessels.
     Although the Federal government has established formal 
structures for coordinating governmental efforts and has developed 
national strategies to address drug trafficking, terrorism, other 
domestic and international crime, and to guarantee economic mobility, 
seaport security per se has not been adequately addressed. Stronger and 
more focused coordination among agencies and between the public and 
private sectors to enhance Security is needed.

Topic of Discussion: Security of Marine Transportation Systems

    The Coast Guard is conducting this workshop to assess existing MTS 
security standards and measures to gather ideas on possible 
improvements. To facilitate discourse during the workshop attendees 
should, before attending the workshop, evaluate threats to MTS security 
in such areas as physical security, operational measures, and access 
control. After recognizing threats to MTS security, the public should 
evaluate existing MTS security standards and measures to identify 
vulnerabilities, and then develop possible adjustments to decrease 
those vulnerabilities. The workshop will provide the public an 
opportunity to present ideas and to discuss the threats, 
vulnerabilities, and adjustments to MTS security. In the future we may 
propose new or amendatory rules that would address issues broached 
during the workshop.
    Three general areas of MTS security, to wit, physical security, 
operational measures, and access control, will almost certainly arise 
during the workshop. Persons planning to attend the workshop should be 
prepared to discuss these general areas as they relate to security, 
protection, and economic performance of the maritime industry. Workshop 
attendees will be asked to discuss a host of possible costs and 
benefits that could result from identifying and addressing physical 
security, operational measures, and access-control vulnerabilities.
    We request information about all current Federal, State, and local 
governmental laws, procedures, regulations, and standards that are 
either functioning or that are planned. We also request industry to 
provide any current and planned standards and procedures covering the 
security of vessels and facilities. Finally, we request recommendations 
toward needed improvement or added regulations. Examples of the types 
of information we are interested in receiving are:
    Physical security. Discussions of the physical security of 
personnel, ports, facilities, and vessels might include, but are not 
limited to:
     Measures and standards currently being used at a facility 
or on board a vessel.
     Criteria for measures and standards at a facility or on 
board a vessel such as fences, gates, alarms, lighting, antennas, and 
personnel on watch.
     Security technologies currently used or possible to make 
ports, facilities, and vessels more secure against the threat or 
commission of crimes or terrorism.
    Operational measures. Discussions of the operational measures for 
personnel, ports, facilities, and vessels might include, but are not 
limited to:
     Effectiveness of existing passenger terminals and 
passenger vessels security plan requirements.
     Effectiveness of existing terminal and security plans for 
ports, vessels, offshore platforms, and industry.
     Facilities and vessels, other than passenger terminals and 
passenger vessels regulated in 33 CFR parts 120 and 128, which should 
have security plans.
     Response plans in place to prevent criminal and terrorist 
acts and threats.
     Details of measures taken in response to such acts and 
threats.
     Necessity of MTS security committees and the sharing of 
intelligence and threat advisories between the Coast Guard and 
industry.
     Criteria and need for a tracking system for vessels 
trafficking the navigable waters of the United States.
    Access control. Discussions of access control for personnel, 
passengers, and cargo might include, but are not limited to:
     Criteria and process for background check prior to 
employment.
     Check points that screen personnel, passengers, cargo, and 
baggage.
     Additional information, currently used or deemed necessary 
to document or certificate personnel, facilities, and vessels.
     Types of credentials (such as identification cards, 
employment cards, and access passes) used to limit access.

    Dated: December 10, 2001.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 01-31171 Filed 12-13-01; 3:46 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P