New Security Rules For Small Boats, Planes

Look out on a river or a lake and you're likely to see recreational boats galore. Look up in the sky and you'll see plenty of private planes.

Small planes and boats seem to be everywhere, especially this time of year. They also may be the new frontier in the nation's battle against terrorism. CBS News correspondent Tony Guida reports.

"Out in the middle of a lake in Minnesota, a small craft is really not a problem. But when you take a small craft and put it in the East River or the Port of Miami or the Port of Los Angeles and the threat dynamic becomes much different," says security expert Paul Kurtz.

Homeland Security is contemplating new requirements including mandating IDs for the operators and passengers of small boats and planes, installing tracking transponders on boats, and subjecting passengers on private jets to terrorist watch list checks.

The challenge facing Homeland Security is almost unimaginable in scope. Here in New York Harbor alone there are thousands of recreational boaters and 11 major ports, in an area encompassing more than 1,200 square miles.

"It's overkill. It's not going to have the payback," says charter boat captain Ed Bacon.

Bacon has been chartering his 54-foot ketch on the Hudson River in New York for more than 20 years. Getting ID from all of his passengers may seem like a good idea, but he says it just won't work.

"You get a lot of last minute requests, I do for instance," he says. "You may have someone who calls me and wants to go out this evening. How am I going to get that information to authorities?"

Captain Bacon is not alone. Most boat owners and many operators of private planes are already lined up against Homeland Security's new anti-terrorism ideas.

But one report says the first new rules will be issued at summer's end, and passengers on private jets will have to be checked against terror watch lists.