Port Security

Baltimore will get $4.3 million in federal financing to help protect the city's state-owned marine terminals from terrorists as part of a roughly $300 million package of port security initiatives announced yesterday by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. While the money is welcome relief in the midst of a state budget crisis, lawmakers and some trade officials say the Bush administration is still not providing enough money to pay for critical security upgrades at the nation's 350 seaports.

PHILADELPHIA -- Lots of Americans have heard about the danger that a dirty bomb might arrive at their local terminal in a shipping container. No wonder so many people across political lines went ballistic when they heard that a company owned by an Arab state, from which two 9/11 hijackers had come, was taking over operations at six U.S. ports. They had little reason to trust the White House when it said everything was fine. The irony is that there is a real threat to port safety, but it isn't from Dubai Ports World.

PRESIDENT BUSH yesterday called Baltimore's port an "impressive place to chopper over." It's a shame his tour didn't include a closer look at the infamous wooden block mounted on a pole - the decoy camera that passes for counterterrorism strategy at the port. Nor did it include an introduction to the "Chicken Necker Gang," the three Dundalk crabbers who were given criminal citations for trespassing at the port last week. Both could have enlightened his views on the subject of port security.

For their first meeting after the primaries, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger went deep into Helen Delich Bentley's turf yesterday for a meeting of a local maritime group and, by most accounts, held his own. Bentley, a Republican and former congresswoman, and Ruppersberger, the Democratic Baltimore County executive, addressed many of the same issues in their speeches to the Propeller Club, a group that has worked with Bentley for decades. Both emphasized the need to find a place to put material dredged to deepen shipping channels in the Chesapeake Bay, the challenges of port security in the post-Sept.

WASHINGTON -- Port security professionals say the management takeover at six U.S. ports, including Baltimore, by a Middle Eastern company poses little actual security threat, especially compared with the continuing security problems at U.S. seaports. What federal and local officials should worry about, these professionals say, are the security gaps that terrorists could easily exploit and that the Bush administration and Congress have failed to fix in the past four years. "This [deal]

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he was concerned that a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates could gain control of some operations at the port of Baltimore - the highest-ranking Maryland official to weigh in on what has ballooned into a major national political issue over port security. Maryland's governor joined both potential Democratic opponents for his seat and members of Congress in condemning last week's sale to Dubai Ports World of a British company that held contracts to provide services at 21 U.S. ports, with management control at several.

Report on port opens the door to enemy attack I am deeply concerned about The Sun's article on weaknesses in security at the port of Baltimore ("Port security gaps pose threat," July 10). I am concerned about the weaknesses in security, but I am more concerned about the nature of the information revealed in the article. We are a nation at war. In time of war, one should not be communicating information that may be of value to one's enemies. Information about weaknesses in security is just the kind of information we should not be revealing to the public.

The big announcement out of the Department of Homeland Security this week is that the names of port facility employees will soon be checked against terrorism watch lists. No, that's not a misprint. This is how far behind the curve the nation's port security continues to be. The average citizen could hardly be blamed for reacting to this news with an incredulous, "You mean this wasn't already done?" If the shameful Dubai Ports World episode accomplished anything, it was to underscore Washington's poor grasp of port security issues.

WASHINGTON -- The House overwhelmingly passed sweeping legislation yesterday aimed at shoring up vulnerabilities in the nation's seaports. The bill passed 421-2, despite complaints from some Democrats that it failed to require overseas scanning of all incoming cargo - a disagreement that brought the only hint of partisanship to the debate. The legislation calls for spending more than $5 billion over the next six years on port security, with about $400 million each year going to grants for individual ports.

BUSINESS -DOW-65.00 11,150.70 +NASDAQ+3.04 2,340.82 -S&P-2.64 1,300.25 -SUN INDEX-1.31 350.70 NATIONAL Report notes weak port security Serious weaknesses in port security programs continue to hamper U.S. efforts to detect potential threats in the millions of cargo containers that enter the country each year, according to report detailing a three-year Senate investigation. pg 1a MARYLAND Assembly backs BGE veto bill The General Assembly approved a bill yesterday that would give the legislature veto power over the proposed merger between the corporate parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and a Florida utility.