Nation & World

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Monday, April 28, 2008 Feds will ask for boaters' help securing coastline Associated Press WASHINGTON -- As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist the country's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the country's 95,000 miles of coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al-Qaida's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States has so far been spared this type of strike in its own waters, terrorists have used small boats to attack in other countries. The millions of dinghies, fishing boats and smaller cargo ships that ply America's waterways are not nationally regulated as they buzz around ports, oil tankers, power plants and other potential terrorist targets. This could allow terrorists in small boats to carry out an attack similar to the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors, says Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen. "There is no intelligence right now that there's a credible risk" of this type of attack, Allen says. "But the vulnerability is there." To reduce the potential for such an event, the Department of Homeland Security has developed a new strategy intended to increase security by enhancing safety standards. Today officials will announce the plan, which asks states to develop and enforce safety standards for recreational boaters and asks them to look for and report suspicious behavior on the water -- much like a neighborhood watch program. Initially the government considered creating a federal license for recreational boat operators, but that informal proposal was immediately shot down by boating organizations. Coast Guard and homeland security officials have toured the country in the past year to sound out the boating industry and its enthusiasts. The only way to police the waterfront, says maritime security expert Stephen Flynn, a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, "is to get as many of the participants who are part of that community to be essentially on your side." Small boats are not the top terrorist threat facing the U.S., officials say. But the nation shouldn't wait to be attacked, said Vayl Oxford, the head of homeland security's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. "We just cannot allow ourselves to get to the point where we're managing consequences," he said. Oxford's office is leading two pilot programs that train and arm harbor patrols with portable radiological and nuclear detection equipment, starting with Seattle's Puget Sound. The Coast Guard will work with states to establish minimum safety standards and ways to enforce the new rules. Requiring minimum safety instruction may very well make the waters safer, says Mark Jambretz, 36, a recreational boater in San Francisco, but he's skeptical that it would have an impact on the terror threat. "As long as you have sailboats or powerboats running up along a giant container ship -- or any type of ship -- you wouldn't be able to tell them from a boat loaded with anything else," he said.

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