posted on Feb, 11 2005 @ 03:53 PM
I've worked on ships for a few years, and I've stopped at many US ports. It's unbelievable how sloppy security is in almost every single US port I
visited. Miami, New York and New Jersey were really the only ports I've visited with any kind of real security, and even then...it was nothing
compared to any US airport I've been in.
So, I guess they think that terrorists are only going to use planes now. C'mon...get real.
I wonder how many Al Qaeda people are learning about sailing ships right now?
Probably more than you think...
I work on a cruise ship, and while the guests are heavily searched at every step along the way, the crew has very little security focused on them at
any point. Usually, it's just one metal detector onboard, run by ship staff (who, once you get to know them, don't really search you), and then
you're basically through all the security you're going to see, and you're walking around some US city all alone.
Sometimes there is one more check for papers (not a photo ID, just papers)...but not all the time.
Some ports don't have any checkpoints at all. Only the big, east coast cities seem to have any idea of security, and the west coast is totally
ignored. San Diego, San Francisco, Honolulu, Astoria, Seattle, Alaska...nothing more than a fence with a gate really. Vancouver & Victoria are the
only ports on the West coast taking security seriously. Both Canadian ports.
The week of Sep't 11, 2001...I was in Seattle, and I walked straight off the ship into downtown without so much as a nod from any security. I came
from Canada that day (where the security was airtight)...across an international border into the states.
We were held up in Vancouver for 10 hours before they cleared the ship, but a day later in Seattle, I was walking through downtown 5 minutes after the
gangway was down going "I could have just brought a bomb...or at least some cheap Canadian prescription drugs with me...that was too easy!"
(Homeland Security...that was a joke. I didn't bring anything in. Please don't torture me.)
Anyways, however scary the security for cruise ships may seem...security for container ships is a complete joke and is actually very serious. Much
less security than the cruise ships get.
Guess the ports aren't as pretty. Nobody is looking at them, so there's no need for presence?
Hardly any containers are even opened at any US port these days. Only a small percentage of containers are actually opened and searched...and
understand that these are full-size-truck-trailers of who-knows-what being delivered into the US everyday without so much as a search.
It would be incredibly easy to slip something big into the US on a container, and then hook it to a truck and drive it right into the US heartland.
No questions asked.
That just seems like a massive breach in the armour that is going to be exploited one day. It's like you're all camped out at the front door
(airports) and you've left the garage open.
Have fun you guys...hope you stop making enemies real soon for all our sake.