Port security goes from an afterthought to a priority

By the breakwaters of San Pedro Bay, the sea marshals prepare for action. Armed with AR-15 assault rifles, they board every arriving cruise ship and high-value cargo vessel, remaining on guard in the captain’s bridge and ship’s engine room until safely docked.

But this week, the port police and U.S. Coast Guard are conducting a “surge” to thwart attacks timed to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The officers board even small vessels such as fishing and recreational boats, looking for anything out of the ordinary. On the second such boarding Wednesday morning, a drug-sniffing dog named Achilles went on alert. There were drugs onboard. Lots of them.

“With the anniversary of 9/11 approaching, we’re pushing out more than usual, doing extra boardings, extra search dives,” said David Clements, a Los Angeles Port Police sergeant. “We’re not expecting anything to happen, but we’re not taking any chances.”

The sea marshals force is the most visible reminder of changes at the nation’s busiest seaports since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Ports weren’t targeted in the assaults, but officials feared a major harbor might be a focus.

“Every major commercial seaport before 9/11 was porous. They were vital engines of the U.S. economy, and few people were looking at security at all,” said Jay Grant, chief executive of the International Assn. of Airport and Seaport Police. “Today, we’re not perfect, but someone is always watching. Someone is always paying attention.”

Protecting Southern California’s twin ports “posed serious challenges,” said Richard D. Steinke, executive director of Long Beach’s port, the nation’s No. 2 cargo container operation behind its next-door neighbor, the Port of Los Angeles.

“We have two major freeways running through here. We have major bridges we share with the public. There are nearby marinas where recreational traffic mixes with the commercial traffic. The harbor was a very large and very difficult place to try to batten down the hatches.” Steinke said.

After 9/11, cargo terminal operators were required to submit security programs and emergency plans that had to pass muster with the Coast Guard.

Before 9/11, port visitors were required to show a valid driver’s license only if someone bothered to ask. After 9/11, about 1.6 million truck drivers, longshore workers and others across the nation -- virtually anyone who expected to be able to enter a seaport terminal unescorted -- were required to submit to background checks and obtain a Transportation Workers Identification Credential.

“The biggest concern we used to have was cargo pilferage, and a lot of that problem had been taken care of decades earlier by using sealed steel containers to transport most cargo,” said John Holmes, deputy executive director of operations at the Los Angeles port. “Security had to be built up from almost nothing.”

Radiation sensors now check every cargo container at major ports around the nation. In L.A.’s port, a rag-tag group of boats that once included an aging Boston Whaler has been replaced with a small fleet of modern patrol boats.

Perhaps the biggest change has been camera surveillance, said Ronald Boyd, chief of the Los Angeles Port Police, which has grown from about 66 people before 9/11 to more than 230 now, half of them sworn officers.

On a recent patrol cruise through the Los Angeles side of San Pedro Harbor, Boyd said the port had added 400 cameras since 9/11.

“We have fixed and stationary cameras, traditional pan, tilt and zoom cameras, but they are supplemented by four very special long-range infrared cameras that can see in all conditions, at night, in fog, and have a detection range of nearly 4,300 feet,” Boyd said. “We are 360 degrees in terms of what we can see now.”

At the L.A. port’s Threat Detection Center, camera feeds are monitored by trained technicians. Some of the cameras are considered “smart,” in that they can detect anomalies, such as movement at night when there should be none, or speedy movement that could indicate hostile intent. Better yet, Boyd said, the cameras will “nudge” the video technicians to the camera they should be watching.

“The video analytics are the really sweet thing about these cameras,” Boyd said, noting that the cameras have already alerted officials to trespassers, burglars and even a capsized sailboat.

No one was spared from new responsibilities. The biggest direct customers at the ports -- the nation’s largest retailers -- were pressed to join the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT.

Retailers who signed up and proved that they had secure supply chains between their foreign factories and U.S. shores would find their cargo expedited through U.S. customs. Now, there are more than 10,000 C-TPAT members.

Beyond the potential loss of human life, an attack would be financially costly.

The 2002 labor dispute between port terminal operators and the union representing dockworkers closed West Coast ports for 10 days, causing an estimated $15 billion in losses, including wages and shipping delays.

Despite all the security changes, the flow of cargo hasn’t been impeded, said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz. Before 9/11, the two ports were moving less than 10 million cargo containers annually. This year they are on pace to exceed last year’s numbers of more than 14.1 million containers.

“We have been able to accommodate all of the additional security requirements and still move all of the cargo,” Knatz said. “These ports have a national impact on the economy, and we have to make sure they are constantly working.”

Still, the real tests are yet to come. “Some bad thing is going to happen at some point no matter how good we do our jobs,” Holmes said. “Our value is going to be judged on how quickly we can get things up and running again.”

ron.white@latimes.com