FBI Questions Photographer About Incident at Port of Long Beach

The security in the harbor area is rather strange, and definitely people needing to act important. I was in the steamship industry and went to an industry-wide forum at Cal State LB. I know from experience that most of the stowaways are discovered by the longshore workers and they are the first to notice discrepencies on containers. CBP (Customs & Border Protection) was talking about how they were going to have an officer or two on hand at all terminals to ensure things were properly monitored. A representative from the ILWU (whose workers blanket the terminals) asked if something could be set up, a liason between the two groups so their workers would know who to contact and such and perhaps the CBP could also work with the union to better understand what the workers encounter on a daily basis, and what their experiences have been. The govt. (including a woman from the FBI who was the closest thing to a living robot I have seen--she said NOTHING that didn't sound already scripted...) basically said, no, you come to us, we're the experts, we don't need you. The union had come out in force since they were in contract negotiations and a large turn out is one way of reminding the CMA (California Maritime Assn, who represent the terminals, etc) of what they can do with one phone call) and several hundred men and women left, disgusted by the response.
Everyone who had registed for the forum had been promised follow up information, which of course never arrived (up to a year later). And to this day (according to friends at a couple terminals) there is still nothing in place to draw on the strength (size) or experience of the longshore workers.
US Customs used to be under the Treasury Dept since their most important function was to control imports AND gather duties...money. Only government agency to make a profit, which went into the General Fund. After 911, they recognized there would be a pissing contest as to who would have the power...and so they re-invented themselves taking the Border Patrol under their banner, and became CBP...with many more powers and a lot more attitude, esp. among the new hires, many of whom really enjoyed walking around Long Beach with their heavy leather belt full of all the equipment a police officer would carry (old time Customs personnel are for the most part very dedicated, helpful people).
Even with all the gate controls at the terminals there is still no way everything can be controlled...in part because everything is based on the idea that all cargo is what it is declared to be. Since there can be no guarantees, what we have is people who will do everything cosmetic to make it appear that they have control over everything...including stopping photography.
I've read in British newspapers about people being stopped from photographing trains for security reasons...and 'trainspotting' as it is known, is an old and respected hobby in the UK.
And none of these controls make me feel any safer--quite the contrary.