Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
Issue link: https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/284910
45 Spring 2014 Proceedings www.uscg.mil/proceedings America's shared land borders with Canada and Mexico are approximately 25,000 miles long, and our maritime transna- tional border exceeds 95,000 miles. 1 These borders include some of the most intricate and complex coastlines in the world. For as long as we have been a nation, our expansive maritime border has remained an attraction for smuggling, traffcking, and illegal entry as well as an attractive point of entry for anyone seeking to do us or our economy harm. On Sept. 11, 2001, our perspective of border security changed forever. Americans realized that day that technology was no longer the sole delivery system or the greatest threat. Vul- nerability can be as simple as a single individual or group crossing our border with intent to harm our country, its infrastructure, or its citizens. In response, the U.S. government developed numerous innovative border security approaches including: • the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, • the Container Security Initiative, • the U.S. Customs 24-hour Advance Cargo Manifest Dec- laration Rule, • the REAL ID Act. 2 These programs are admirable initiatives, but they are not good enough. Our government must integrate these and other programs into one cohesive, integrated overarching operations plan built upon metrics that can evaluate risk and measure success. Therefore, it is our challenge to create an integrated maritime border security strategy. Addition- ally, in the current budget-constrained, resource-restricted environment, we must focus on implementing true force multipliers without adding overhead. So one may ask, how do we push layered security farther away from the dock and harbor environment? Or, how do we do it in a time when budgets are constrained and when no single agency is equipped to handle the load? Force Multipliers One answer lies in marine law enforcement offcers. On the nation's waterways — including along international borders and ports of entry — state, county, local and tribal marine law enforcement offcers are on duty patrolling, observing, and interacting with recreational boaters, commercial fsh- ermen, vessel masters, and others. They typically patrol an Just Add Water A recipe for border security. by MAjor john C. fetterMAn Maine Marine Patrol (ret.) Director of Law Enforcement National Association of State Boating Law Administrators Mr. MArK DuPont USCG (ret) National Director National Association of State Boating Law Administrators BOAT Program Border Operations Eighteen thousand state and local offcers patrol America's waterways, and become part of the integrated and layered defense of our shorelines and credentialed to a national standard. Photos courtesy of the NASBLA BOAT Program. Spring2014_FINAL.indd 45 3/21/14 11:14 AM