Maritime Security: Substantial Work Remains to Translate New Planning Requirements into Effective Port Security Page: 8 of 57
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Results in Brief
Although owners and operators have made progress in developing security
plans, the extent to which the Coast Guard will have reviewed and
approved the approximately 12,300 individual facility or vessel plans by
July 1, 2004, varies considerably. Owners and operators are developing
about 5,900 plans under an option allowing them to self-certify that the
plans will be developed and implemented by July 1. In doing so, they are
using standards and templates their trade association had developed and
the Coast Guard had approved. Owners and operators who chose this
option did not have to submit their plans for review and approval. The
Coast Guard's first look at many of these plans will likely not come until
after July 1, when inspectors begin compliance inspections to ensure that
plans have been implemented. The remaining 6,400 plans, which were not
developed through the self-certification process, underwent a detailed
review process for which the Coast Guard hired contractors with security
experience. The contractors conducting much of the review found that all
of these plans needed to be revised, some extensively, and the Coast
Guard concurred with the contractors' findings. As of June 2004-1 month
before the deadline--more than half of these plans were still in process.
To speed up the process, the Coast Guard added more personnel and
began working more directly with owners and operators. Nonetheless,
many of these plans will not be approved by July 1. Under MTSA and
Coast Guard regulations, facilities and vessels without approved plans
would have to cease operations. However, MTSA and the regulations also
allow the Coast Guard to grant permission to such facilities and vessels to
continue operating for up to 1 year after the plans are submitted on the
condition that they continue to make sufficient progress through the
review process toward the approval of their plans. The Coast Guard is
currently allowing such facilities and vessels to operate through October
31, 2004.
In late May 2004, the Coast Guard issued its strategy for ensuring that
facility and vessel owners and operators implement the security activities
identified in their plans. It is clear that this strategy will face several
challenges, both in the short and longer term. One challenge is the sheer
size of the immediate effort: between July and December 2004, the Coast
Guard plans to conduct on-site inspections of every facility and as many
vessels as possible to ensure that owners and operators are complying
with the actions called for in their security plans. Inspectors will have to
make decisions about whether owners and operators have identified all
vulnerabilities and adequately addressed them. These decisions are
complicated, in part because owners and operators have considerable
choice in how to mitigate vulnerabilities and because the Coast Guard will
be seeing many of these plans for the first time. Other challenges includeGAO-04-838 Maritime Security
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United States. General Accounting Office. Maritime Security: Substantial Work Remains to Translate New Planning Requirements into Effective Port Security, report, June 30, 2004; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc299170/m1/8/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.