Hahn Proposes Tougher Port Security Rules

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn is proposing tougher security standards at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and still-unspecified background checks on the 25,000 people who work at the nation’s busiest harbor complex.

Any effort to deeply investigate the immigration status and possible criminal records of port workers and truck drivers who pick up cargo, however, will run into opposition from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Hahn’s recommendations, in a report scheduled to be publicly released today, were hammered out in sometimes contentious meetings of his port security task force, a group of federal officials, local law enforcement officers, business leaders, union representatives and city leaders organized in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“We recognize that the seaport could be a special target for terrorism,” Hahn said in an interview. “So we need to do everything we can to ensure the safety of the people who work there, who are passengers on cruise ships and who live in surrounding communities.

“The task force has come up with a series of recommendations that will do that and allow the ports to operate in ways that are vital to the region’s economy.”

How deeply the background checks will go into a worker’s life and what should be done with such information are matters to be determined later by the task force, Hahn said.

“The idea is not to dredge up things in a person’s past that have no relevance,” he said. “We want relevant information that will tell us whether or not someone is a security risk.”

The task force wants more Coast Guard patrol vessels, additional gamma ray imaging devices for the Customs Service, 15 more Los Angeles Port Police positions and a Los Angeles Fire Department hazardous materials team permanently assigned to the ports.

It also wants to create a special federal system to identify all the truck drivers--some driving from as far away as Mexico--who enter and leave the 15,000-acre port complex.

In addition, the task force plans to work with the state Lands Commission to establish security regulations and standards for pipelines and railways, the primary conduits of hazardous materials.

The heavily industrialized port complex--ringed by recreational sites and neighborhoods--lacks coordinated security measures, according to the task force. Customs officials say they are able to inspect only 2% of the 5 million containers of freight that move through the ports annually.

The most controversial recommendation is for a mandatory background “screening system” for all

people who may work in or near security-sensitive areas, such as hazardous chemical facilities and fuel depots. That includes dockworkers, truck drivers, vendors, steamship operators and contractors.

In an effort to control access to the ports, the task force is calling for an identification system roughly modeled after one created by the Coast Guard during World War II, officials said.

The system would rely on “access cards” showing an individual’s photograph and fingerprints. Only those who completed a background check would be issued a card. Discussions ahead will focus on the types of crimes that could preclude someone from getting clearance.

Ports Are Expected to Subsidize Costs

The task force expects that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will form a partnership to subsidize the costs of the system and to jointly oversee its administration.

It remains to be seen whether any system devised by the task force would be replaced by a seaport security plan that might be mandated by the federal government.

U.S. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) is sponsoring legislation that would require its own credentialing process to limit access to the nation’s 361 ports.

In the meantime, Los Angeles Harbor Commission President Nicholas Tonsich said, “We’re not afraid of getting out ahead of the curve on the issue of port security.

“We’re fortunate to have regulatory agencies and law enforcement working so closely together on short notice. That’s why we are among the leaders.”

The longshore union is lobbying hard against very extensive background checks on the grounds that workers with criminal records who have already paid their debt to society would face “double jeopardy” by being denied access to their jobs. The union recalled its position against political screening during the 1950s McCarthy era.

“The union is very concerned about how deeply they will delve into a person’s past,” said Domenick Miretti, a member of ILWU Local 63 and one of the union’s representatives on the task force.

“If a college professor subscribed to a subversive publication to learn what others are thinking, would he be denied access to the docks?” Miretti asked. “Beyond that, what are the appeals procedures for those denied access? And who is going to run this program?”

The task force, which has yet to resolve those and other potentially politically sensitive issues, hopes to have a credentialing system in operation by July 1.

Los Angeles Port Police Chief Noel Cunningham, who headed up the weekly task force meetings, predicted the new measures will “make it difficult for people who don’t like our country to do their dirty work.”

“I know some people think background checks smack of ‘Big Brother’ tactics,” he said. “But right now it’s necessary to protect our ports, our region and its economy.”

Hahn said he expects implementation of the task force’s security measures to set a national example.

“This level of effort has not happened at any other port,” he said. “We do expect it to be a model and a blueprint.”