Port security will improve, but gradually: Coast Guard officials say that the nation's waterways always will be vulnerable.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana

The Coast Guard will be spending at least the next three years making up for lost time in its effort to safeguard ports and waterways, officials said. A major challenge is figuring out how to make the best use of new funding, considering that the agency, in recent years, only spent 5 percent of its budget on security.

The task ahead is as overwhelming as eating an elephant one bite at a time, said Capt. Robert Ross, the head of the Coast Guard's Strategic Analysis office. "We are trying to carve this elephant up in slices that we can swallow without choking," he told National Defense.

The Coast Guard is under significant pressure to build up its security operations, he added. "We got here through many, many years of neglecting the threats that a lot of people knew were there," he said. "We are not going to fix these problems overnight and it is going to take a lot of money. ... We need to take the time and think it through, so that the money we spend, we spend wisely."

During the next three years, said Ross, the Coast Guard will see growth in human and materiel resources. "We are looking at a three-year ramp up for fiscal years '03, '04 and '05," he said. "We have capacity constraints on the training system--and we can only buy so much stuff at a time, because we only have so many contracting officers."

One area of particular interest is the development of capabilities to monitor ship crews and cargo. "We need to improve our ability to know what is coming. We need to improve our understanding of what is coming," he said.

Nevertheless, it was recently reported that the Coast Guard, for budgetary reasons, cut back the sea-marshal forces it deployed shortly after the September 11 attacks. The Coast Guard needs an extra $228 million to keep armed reservists on active duty to board and inspect vessels, crews and cargoes before they reach port. A special appropriation is now awaiting congressional approval. The Coast Guard also is seeking an additional $750 million in fiscal 2003, which begins Oct. 1, to set up rapid-deployment teams that would board suspect vessels approaching a U.S. port.

There are infinite targets and infinite ways of attack, Ross said. "We have to prioritize which are the most profitable ways to do that. ... We are not going to be able to defend from all attacks."

The Coast Guard, he said, should not be viewed as a "cop on the beat," because it does not have the resources to provide security across the board, at every port...