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Today, the Senate adopted an amendment to the Homeland Security Bill offered by Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) along with Senator Frank Lautenberg (D - N.J.) and Senator Jon Corzine (D-N.J.). The amendment will force the Homeland Security Department to take real steps to fix gaping holes in the agency’s work to secure America’s ports.
“Today we have taken one step in the right direction in improving our homeland security. Keeping our ports safe is essential to protecting our homeland and keeping our citizens and economy safe. The recent attacks in London show us how vulnerable we all still are to terrorist attacks on soft targets around the world, and American port security is no exception,” Senator Kerry said.
“By demanding the Inspector General track the Homeland Security Department’s progress in improving their management of homeland security grants, we are ensuring the Homeland Security Bill includes a real plan to change the current dangerous state of our port security,” Kerry said. “But this is only one small victory, and I will continue to fight to make sure we are doing everything we can to make America safe.”
“This legislation is an important first step toward safeguarding America’s ports. Congress must take every appropriate action to defend the American people and secure vital infrastructure,” Senator Corzine said. “There is just too much at stake to wait until the day after tragedy strikes.”
Kerry’s amendment requires the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress on the department’s progress implementing 12 recommended changes to improve the department's port security grant program.
In January, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General issued a report criticizing the department’s management of the Port Security Grant Program, saying there is “no assurance that the program is protecting the nation’s most critical and vulnerable infrastructure and assets.”
The Inspector General found that many of the projects that received funding lacked merit, the program’s bureaucracy prevented money from getting to the most vulnerable ports, and that available assessments of ports’ infrastructure and vulnerabilities were not used effectively.
Among the most serious revelations:
Of the $564 million awarded for port security grants since 2002, only 21 percent, or $106 million, has actually been spent. 82 of 86 project applications submitted in 2003 were found by a review board to lack merit. All received funding. In 2003, only one staff member oversaw the grant program. 811 projects were funded that year.
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