U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism

Administration Wants To Enlist Recreational Boaters To Reduce Chances Of Waterway Attacks

(AP)  As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. 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 Qaeda'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 humble 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, says Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen. That 2000 attack killed 17 American sailors in Yemen when terrorists rammed a dinghy packed with explosives into the destroyer. "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 attack in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security has developed a new strategy intended to increase security by enhancing safety standards. The Coast Guard is part of the department.

On Monday 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. The government will also look to develop technology that will help detect dangerous materials and other potential warning signs.

The United States has spent billions of dollars constructing elaborate defenses against the monster cargo ships that could be used by terrorists, including strict regulations for containers and shipping.

"When that oil tanker is coming from the Middle East, we know everything about it before it gets here," said John Fetterman, deputy chief of Maine's marine patrol. But when it comes to small boats, he said, "nobody knows a lot about them."

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. While the government insists there will be no federal license, the strategy suggests that the government consider registering and regulating recreational boats.

There are about 18 million small boats in the country, contributing to a $39.5 billion industry, according to a 2006 estimate from the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

Fetterman and his officers regularly get intelligence reports about unknown or unrecognized boaters taking pictures of a bridge or measurements of a dam. But he says there just aren't enough officers on the water to address every report.

The only way to police the waterfront, says maritime security expert Stephen Flynn, "is to get as many of the participants who are part of that community to be essentially on your side." Flynn, a fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, says treating boaters as allies rather than as a threat will go a long way.

The government has taken tentative first steps to secure the waterways, but at a much slower pace than the effort aimed at large container ships.

Small boats are not the top terrorist threat facing the United States, 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. A similar program for San Diego is in the planning stages.

Many local departments across the country have been concerned with the small boat threat. The New York Police Department has scuba teams and marine units equipped with radiation detection that patrol New York waters. But few departments across the country have similar resources.

That is why the strategy is intended to create a layered defense that would create a national federal standard to operate a boat, Allen says.

The Coast Guard will work with states to establish minimum safety standards and ways to enforce the new rules. That may include requiring boat operators to have a copy of the safety certification on board with them and a piece of identification that links them to the certificate. That's important, security officials say, because currently there is no uniform requirement for pleasure boaters to have identification on board with them on the water.

The government defines small boats as any vessel less than 300 tons.

The new strategy will not only create more awareness on the water, but additional state safety requirements could have other benefits: keeping boats shipshape and having their inspections up to date; more lifesaving equipment on board; and possibly fewer drunken people operating boats, said California's homeland security adviser Matthew Bettenhausen.

In 2006, there were 710 boating deaths, more than 3,400 injuries and close to $44 million worth of property damage, according to the latest statistics from the Coast Guard. Of the 710 deaths, 70 percent occurred on boats operated by someone who did not have boating safety instruction.

[prinzowhales]

al-Qaeda is putting snakes in your toilet!! Don''t go! Submit to government regulation of your bowels or die!

[inventagod2]

Swift Boaters for McCain!

[liberalme]

This was all over the Florida news this morning--are we at scare tactic orange yet??

Gonna buy me a boat incog-nito and gonna give th government a "patrol" bill for a few trillion dollars--oh wait, I don''t have enough money for gas for the *** thing!

Hey Rumsfield--you go to war with the army you''ve got--put your uniform on Uncle Sam needs YOU!!

[prinzowhales]

The Regime plans to have one out of ten college graduates going into some kind of Police State function related to Homeland Security. Do you really want to pay for your own jailers? Down with the Regime!

[prinzowhales]

A Regime that hires the likes of Marcus Wolfe, formerly of the East German STASI, and A. Primakov, of the KGB, is not interested in fighting terrorism--it is interested in promoting it!

[Razzl]

This will just end up being another program to harass recreational boaters the way the FAA harasses small aircraft owners. There''s already a state licensing system in place among the coastal states that''s as rigorous as what''s described in this article, and there''s already a draconian large-ship inspection program in place to harass legitimate commerce. The one thing that''s missing is Coast Guard patrols of the waterways, and apparently will continue to be so long as the neo-GOP crowd wants to do homeland security on the cheap.

I can tell you as a recreational boater that there''s simply no way that recreational boats on the water can head off suspicious activity without on-the-water patrols from the Coast Guard available in the vicinity. And harassing us and treating us as the enemy, then deputizing us to do your job, is not the way to encourage cooperation. Stop obsessing about theoretical attacks to the point where Americans aren''t able to enjoy our freedoms amy more; nuclear or gas attacks by boat were far more likely during the cold war than they are today, yet no special measures were taken back then and no attacks happened...

[incog-nito]

This is great news! This is a golden opportunity for any American with the right connection to get in on a no-bid contract with the U.S. government to defend America''s waterways. What are you waiting for people?

[sverre5-2009]

We keep enforcing all these new restrictions to combat terrorism, and I really don''t see the issue going away. We''re trying to reduce the effects of terrorism, not get rid of it at its root source. The reason people resort to atrocities such as terrorism is because they''re in poverty, and feel a sense of persecution. If you just go in and start killing every terrorist you can find, without passing any reforms, you''re only going to increase the sentiment more. An example: The Troubles in Ireland, with the IRA and the UDA was resolved because their economy improved. Military violence only worsened the situation.

[quetzal0666]

I Guess this is a green light for Boat People huh?
Shoot first ask questions later?

[notblue]

The militants have destroyed are freedoms not fellow Americans. Why be paranoid?? The Islamic extremists have alreadt used every aspect of mass transit throughout the world to kill kill kill kill. It is silly to think they will continue to kill! Relax everyone, let''s just wait and see what happens and hope for the best, we have obviously made them mad enough now.Geesh!

[leftyintexas]

Gee, what next...trained suicide dolphins? This adminstration really sucks. They are truly paranoid and would like us to join them! I ain''t buying any of their phony ''war on terror''craap. Only idiots do!

[oscarez]

I think I understand now, what the Federal Government (Bush) would like is to remove all the people and keep the taxes.

[oscarez]

"Of the 710 deaths, 70 percent occurred on boats operated by someone who did not have boating safety instruction."

And the fact that every one was drinking beer.

[navyjimfl]

here we go.....more taxing and tracking and regulating of americans.....I can''t go out now without some barney fife stoping me to check my fire extinquisher.......once twice in one weekend.....why don''t these morons give me a sticker that shows they have already completed it?.....

[oscarez]

Looks like Bush is working out a way to spend millions of tax dollars to protect us from recreational boaters and their nuclear or radiological bombs.

[usbrit-2009]

"Live free or die" has become "Make us safe at any cost, including our freedom." Americans have become pathetic cowards, easily manipulated by politicians who use fear to retain and expand government powers while retaining their offices.

Posted by UnderMyBoot

I couldn''t agree more. The terrorists are just laughing it up in one of their safe palaces on the gulf. They don''t need to do anything more. They just sit there watching the western world tie itself up in knots. New regulations, bankrupting themselves with new Government Agencies, spying on their own people, destroying the fabric of life and freedom we all hold so dear. All in the name of "safety" when 280,000 people have been killed in car wrecks and 175,000 have been killed by guns since 3,000 extremely unfortunate people were killed by terrorists. I find the whole thing somewhat ridiculous.

[spritsail]

Another thought:
The last paragraph quotes the Coast Guard figures of 710 boating deaths in 2006, with 70% involving people without boating safety instruction. This is unfortunate, but let''s have some perspective: The AAA reported 42,642 deaths from car crashes in 2006, with many attributed to excessive speed, drunk driving, and failure to wear a seat belt. By comparison, boating looks pretty safe!

Now, I think it would be good if more boaters had some safety instruction, and took safety seriously. I think the same would be good for many drivers. Just don''t pretend that either of these has anything to do with anti-terrorism!

[spritsail]

So the Bush administration wants to enlist recreational boaters to help prevent terrorism. How is this a change? We already love it here, of course we want to protect the USA! This is just an excuse to impose more regulations.

Usually these kind of regulation end up being awkwardly written, with little thought of how they will be implemented for TRULY small boats, like a canoe, sailing dinghy, rowboat, or kayak. Does this mean that a kid in a rowboat will have to carry registration on board just to splash about in the local bay? How long do you think that piece of paper would last? Badly written and implemented regulations make people less likely to work in harmony with law eforcement out of simple fear of inadvertantly falling afoul of some unexpected restriction. When people are trying to avoid law enforcement we become more vulnerable, not more safe.

[trishab4]

As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America''s 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways.

-Another tax to be levied by the repukons'' government? Because of such creepy and bullying attitude by our government, they are now figuring out every vehicule as a potential terrorist vector on which we need to pay taxes, without being able to remove the danger of real terrorist attacks by those same boats... sharks attak! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws!

Jaws! Jaws! Jaws!

-WOW! Bright. And we have to wet our pants...

Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws!

more Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! Jaws! everywhere Jaws!

[undermyboot]

The only way to be completely safe is to implant personally identifiable GPS monitoring devices in every American. These devices can report your location on a minute by minute basis, transmit your conversations and video of your activities to the government, and explode on command from an empowered government bureaucrat if they decide you may be a "risk"to government security.

"Live free or die" has become "Make us safe at any cost, including our freedom." Americans have become pathetic cowards, easily manipulated by politicians who use fear to retain and expand government powers while retaining their offices.