Post 9/11, LA port gets counterterrorism makeover

The Port of Los Angeles looks like an obsessive-compulsive giant’s erector set with carefully placed shipping cranes and brightly colored cargo containers stacked high like Legos. “We’re all really big kids at the port,” says director of operations John Holmes. ”I mean, come on, this is totally cool, let’s face it!”

From the deck of a police boat, Holmes is marveling at a gigantic cargo ship carrying thousands of shipping containers. The ship reads "NYK Line" in bright white lettering. NYK Line is a Japanese shipping company and one of the largest in the world. It’s probably carrying things you can buy at your local Target, Walmart or Kohls. The Port of L.A. is the busiest port in the country and nearly half of the nation’s imports come into the San Pedro port complex.

Holmes says before 9/11 the biggest threat to that ship was cargo theft. Now it could be carrying a dirty bomb.

“People have used the term 'the new normal,'” he says. “Well, post 9/11 the new normal is a very rigorous regimen of security for that ship and for those containers from the time they’re unpacked to the time they’re loaded.”

Holmes was the Coast Guard captain at the Port of L.A. on Sept. 11, 2001. That was the day, he says, the “new normal” began. And it began with one with one decision: Stop commerce or let the ships come in. “And the decision we made was we were going to continue to let commerce come through the port but we were going to add significant additional security on the ships that were coming in.”

He called Fish and Wildlife, the FBI, Customs Enforcement, LAPD and police departments around the region for help. “It was just the most eclectic weird, strange mix of people that you ever wanted to see,” Holmes says smiling. ”That was one of the most memorable things about a terrible day.”

The rag-tag group of law enforcement agents boarded every ship that came into the port until they had a better plan. That plan became the sea marshal program. Like air marshals, they board and secure passenger ships that enter the port.

A couple of years later, the port added a $25 million video surveillance system, more than doubled its police and security force and the piece de resistance: a brand new maritime training academy with a $16 million price tag. A place that, Holmes says, reminds him of the Coast Guard headquarters during 9/11. The academy is a multi-agency effort to train law enforcement around the country on port security and anti-terrorism.

The grand total over 10 years is nearly $300 million. Half of that came from the Port of L.A. and the other half from grants, mostly federal.

Ten years later, the Port of L.A.’s security makeover is not yet complete. The challenge now, says Henry Willis, associate director of the RAND Corporation’s Homeland Security and Defense Center, is what to do next. He says nationwide port security needs to transition from what he calls the easy work — spending sprees on gates, guards, and technology — to the hard work, planning.

Willis says there’s still no federal blueprint laying out what to do if disaster strikes.

“Who will be making decisions about whether to close a port, when a port can re-open, what types of goods will be let in first?” says Willis, ”and where can the shippers go, the Targets the Walmarts, to get information and learn about what decisions are being made when so they can adjust and get things moving again quickly.”

Willis adds that federal and local government agencies have acknowledged the need for a port resiliency plan. But, 10 years after 9/11, he says, there still isn’t one.

Correction: This story originally said the ship said "NYK Line, portside," which was incorrect. It says "NYK Line" on the side of the ship.