but i think in general americans should understand the challenges as well as the role that the institutions face. and since my time has expired and i want to thank you again for being here, and i am not at all dismissive of the points that you've made. on the contrary, i have great respect for them. but perhaps we could provide you with more information that would be pervasive in the advantages and the positives in those kinds of greater availability or accessibility. should supreme court proceedings be televised some give us your thoughts on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. the safe port act of 2006 requires the homeland security department to scan all cargo on ships bound for the u.s. but a homeland security official says currently only about 5% of

cargo is scanned. the house home land security subcommitt subcommittee on maritime issues held this two hour hearing. good morning, everybody. the subcommittee on maritime security are come to order. the subcommittee is meeting today to hear system from jerry nadler, david heyman, kevin today our very important topic is the global supply chain and i would recognize myself for an

opening statement. this hearing is really the first of a two part series. we'll have another follow-on hearing, as well and we'll examine the nation's maritime and global supply chain security measures. last year the subcommittee focused on security at the southern and northern border both at and in between the ports of entry, but it's important to remember that we really have three borders, the maritime border is certainly as important as the other two. and it's the conduit for much of the country's trade. commerce is the life blood of the nation. and after september 11th, we in the congress rightly recognize the importance of securing our nation and the car go that transports overseas on a daily basis. i've had the opportunity recently really to visit some of our nation's largest ports and see firsthand the hard work that the men and women of customs and border protection and the united states coast do to help secure our nation, however it's clear more work needs to be done.

whether it's through our ports or truck or what have you or coming across from a train from the canadian border, we have to always make sure that we understand the risks posed by cargo shipment in order to secure the entire global supply chain. the low gisices involved in moving goods across the global supply chain are incredibly complex. security solutions we propose should be cognizant of that reality. in today's hear, we'll exam enhow we balance maritime security and the safe guarding with our supply chain and not place a burden on the flow of goods so vital to our way of life. delays can cost billions of dollars to our economy. balancing security and facilitating commerce is not an easy thing, but risk based systems can help separate companies who play by the rules and make extra effort allows the customs and border protection to focus on less secure shipment. we need to make sure that we push our borders out by conducting as much inspection and screening work before

potentially dangerous cargo arrives on our shores. we can and we must do a better job of leveraging the work of our trusted allies to help screen and when necessary either scan or inspect high risk cargo. it's no secret that our nation faces a difficult financial situation. we're always going to have limited taxpayer dollars and that requires that the government make smart decisions to use those resources in the most effective and efficient possible manner. we should be under no illusion that we can eliminate every single risks that terrorists pose to the nation and that all we need to do is just spend more to make that risk completely disappear. it should mchl how we allocate scarce homeland security dollars, as well. inform. and i think it's especially important to remember when considering the 9/11 act which man at a tidated 100% scanning o employer prior to it arriving in america. and certainly that should be our

goal. however we have to to look at how we implement this law and we currently scan 4% to 5% of all cargo entering the country. it's certainly far from clear that the investment required to scan the rest of the 95% of the cargo is possible and again we'll be talking about it's based on risk, is it grounded in a proper understanding of the threat posed by containerized cargo. the secretary herself has mentioned on numerous occasions, including in n. frnts of this committee that she want to the work with the congress to modify this requirement. and so i would say certainly i stand and this committee stands ready to work with her and we are waiting for her legislative proposal that will help move the country into a more risk based

system as the secretary has been saying now for over two years. arres i'm eager to hear the witnesses' thoughts. the private sector has a role to play in helping to secure their supply chains and i think it's important to accepted our security. it's a wonderful program of how government and the private sector can really partner together to help increase security and ensure a smooth flow of good its. and we want to explore ways to improve and expand this program through additional companies willing to improve the security of the supply chain. and then finally, i would like to note that the safe port act of 2006 calls for a global supply chain strategy be released and this requirement came due in in october of 2009 but was not released until just

a few weeks ago. i think it's interesting to note that many times this committee has been having hears on particular issues and then the agency, the department, responds. which i think is a very good thing. in fact we held a hearing in july on maritime cooperation and then the department released hair maritime coordination plan. and then we held a hearing on security in september and the department released an announcement on visa security on the day of our subcommittee hearing. so i don't know if it's say ren dipity or what, but i think it's great. congress is doing its job and the agencies are responding and i think that tells us that this subcommittee is focused on the right issues, as well. however, i will mention, as well, that even though we just received this a couple of weeks ago, the document produced by the white house was only six pages long and the first page

was an executive summary. so i'm certainly looking forward to hearing the kept's plans on implementation details and their complete vision on a strategy that will help us better secure the supply chain. and with that, i would also like to recognize the ranking member of the sub committee for his opening remarks. >> thank you so much for holding this meeting and i'd like to recognize our ranking member of the full committee. madame chair, before i move forward, i would ask for unanimous concept to allow the gentle lady from california to question the witnesses dat's hearing. >> without objection. >> thank you so much. as you know, this subcommittee has previously examined cargo security and facilitation issues at our land borders. some of our nation's busiest land ports of entry are located in my congressional district making supply chain security facilitation a legit mass issue

for me and high constituents. its know it's important to the again tell lady from michigan, as well, given her district and i appreciate all the work that she's done there to make sure we facilitate finding the balance between security and of course commerce moving as quickly as possible. today we're examining another important part which is the maritime cargo security, but that have certainly parallels. the fundamental issue is the same, how can we expedite la fwit matt cargo to its destination while keeping possible terrorist instruments of contraband from entering the united states. given the volume of cargo entering the country every day, this is no easy task. we will hear testimony today regarding dhs programs and initiatives through secure maritime cargo, through programs such as the security freight

initiative. i've also had the opportunity to visit a csi port with mr. thompson and i've also been to the national targeting center where much of the cuss tops border protection cargo security work is done. while i appreciate the hard work of the men and women on this challenging issue, more remains to be done. many of the cargo security programs have grown stagnant in recent years in part due to lack of adequate funding. and many of the programs are carried out by cdp officers who are in sport supply. we have greatry expanded the range of the border patrol, the men and women this green, in september 11, 2001, but we have not kept pace of the men and women in blue and we need to do better to make sure that we get the men and women in blue who are also the ones that man our airport, seaports and land ports. without adequate personnel, security if a sill talgs will

suffer. finally i'd like to bring also the issue that the man also brought up which is my dismay at the recently released long overdue supply chain security. this was due in 2009. and it just got released in january. and not that pages count, but i think six pages is not sufficient for such a very important issue that we have here. it is my hope that the witnesses today will speak to its role in this very important mission. i thank the witnesses for joining us here today and look forward to your testimony. with that, i yield back the balance of my time.

>> the chair recognizes the ranking member for the full committee, mr. thompson. >> thank you very much. i appreciate you calling this hearing and i appreciate our witnesses for their participation, also. today's hearing comes at a critical juncture in the efforts to secure maritime cargo entering our nation's ports. july 2012 marks the deadline for achieving 100% scanning of maritime cargo before it arrives in the u.s. pursuant to the implementation and recommendations of the 9/11 commission act of 2007. in other words, the raw requires all u.s. bound cargo be scanned either through nonintrusive scanning machines or receive a physical examination. today it's widely acknowledged

that they will not meet this deadline. i'm a pragmatic person. i was a proponent of 100% scanning mandate, but you said stood that fulfilling the requirements would be no easy task. however those of us who assumed the provision hope to spur significant advances in cargo security by this point even if the initial 2012 deadline was not met. instead, in the nearly five years since the law was enacted, dhs has failed to make an honest effort to implement the mandate. we've heard a litany of reasons that 100% scanning can for the or should not be done. in testimony before this committee, secretary napolitano expressed opposition indicating that the 100% requirement is not achievable by 2012 and instead advocating for a risk based support maritime cargo security.

of course the surest way to fail is not to try at all. equally troubling is the fact that in recent years, some of dhs' existing cargo security programs have become stagnant or have been scaled back. for example, the container security might be difference bfi is operational in the same 58 ports that were active before the enactment of the 9/11 act. over the past five years, csi has not been k3 panlded despite the fact that at least 700 ports shep goods ship goods to the united states. and a number of overseas personnel employed to the 58 ports has plummeted. specifically in 2009, there were 167 cfi overs. today there are only 78.

while a few year ago the secure freight initiative included six ports, today the program is reduced to a single low volume port. last month they released global supply security. you heard my ranking member talk about the size of this six page document. it's hard to see how this document could offer a comprehensive blueprint for enhancing the security of the supply chain especially given the enormity of the task and the number of stakeholders involved. neverthele nevertheless, i expect to hear testimony today from dhs witnesses about how successful the department has been at creating programs to ensure that shippers can be trusted manifest or analyze and ports are protected. these programs play an important role in maritime security.

however, they do not take the place of having an active partnership where cdp personnel works with their counterparts in overseas ports to examine higher risk cargo containers before they arrive in u.s. ports. after all, what good is identifying a high risk container if it doesn't get examined until it has arrived in the ports of new york, houston, los angeles, new orleans, or any other 100 ports across america. by then it very well may be too late. i hope to hear from our witnesses today not only about the successes, but also about what remains to be done to secure maritime cargo and how we can get there. meaningful homeland security will only be achieved when we know who and what is coming into this country, not only by air

and land, but also by steam. i thank the witnesses for joining us today. and i look forward to their testimony. >> i thank the gentleman. i would remind all the other committee members as well that the opening statement that you may have can be submitted for the record. and we're pleased to have two panels. our first is congressman nadler. we appreciate you coming. he he represents the district of new york which includes much of the west side of manhattan, financial district and a number of maybe hoods in southwestern brooklyn. he began his political career in 1976 where he served for 16 years and then 1992 selected to the u.s. house of representatives in a special location. he election. he's been here ever since. the floor is yours. >> thank you very much.

thank you for inviting me to testify today on the issue of maritime security and trade facilitation. i speak to you today not as a cargo security expert, but as a member of congress who has long advocated that we must do a better job of ensuring the security of cargo arriving on our shores every day. as represented from new york state, the world trade center site is located this my strikts. as is much of the port of new york and new jersey, largest port on the east coast. as such i believe my district is ans as an example of why we need to secure our nation including our ports and water ways while also ensuring the flow of legi t legitimate commerce. i was the principal author of many the port provisions of the 9/11 commission act of 2007. i worked closely with chairman thompson and representative ed markey to push for in-fluinclufe

100% scanning. all must be scanned by nonentruce difference equipment and radiation technology before being loaded on a vessel bound for the u.s. unless the secretary of homeland security extends the deadline by certifying it is not currently feasible. in short, this provision requires scanning of all cargo containers before they arrive in this country. we understood that we must not wait to impose security measures until containers reach the united states. scanning containers in the u.s. port is not sufficient. if there is a nuclear bond inside a container and it is detected by radiation in miami or los angeles, it may very well be too late. reading the cargo manifest is not enough. trusting certain shippers is not enough. we must verify the contents of the containers at the point of origin before they're loaded on a ship bound for america. so the law is designed to do just that. when i introduced a free standing bill on this topic and

pushed for inclusion of these provisions, i understood that achieving 100% maritime cargo scanning mandate would be neither easy nor cheap. but i was also aware of the human and economic toll of a potential terrorist attack. the new york metropolitan area is home to approximately 19 million people and the effect of a weapon of mass deconstruction or dirty bomb would be catastrophic. similarly several of the nation's other major sports are located near population centers and also make attractive targets. this is not inclusive to major metropolitan areas, however. there are currently approximately 360 commercial sea and river ports throughout the u.s. making this issue of concern to communities across the country. besides the potential human costs, the economic costs of the maritime act would be definite investigation say thing. maritime ports are a vital component of the supply chain moving the overwhelming cargo into and out of the u.s.

99.4% by weight and 64% by value at a value of $3.8 billion each day. 2010, the dollar value of cargo that moved through the port of new york and new jersey alone is more than $175 billion. anything that renders this law would disrupt the supply chain with wide spread effects across the run and around the world. when i first introduced the legislation, someone said to me that commademanding 100% might the flow of commerce and i replied that one nuclear bomb going off in america would eliminate the throw of congress for a good long time. given the very serious nature of the threat we face, i'm dismayed that the department of homeland security has not made a realistic effort to implement the 100% scanning mandate, nor has it offered a proposal to achieve the same end.

i'm aware that the department opposed the original legislation as never thought this was a good idea, but must make an attempt to implement the will of congress. i urge toing a fr move forward implement the mandate. we must continue to take steps toward 100% scanning as the ultimate goal, we must not relent in our pursuit of security. we must not allow gaping holes in our system to go unaddressed. remember what's at stake here. it seems absurd that we would even entertain the notion that we would perhaps allow a nuclear weapon to be smuggled in our contain on board a container that has never been scanned when we know it would kill millions of people. it is obvious the thisinitial s will this year whether not be achieved, but we can and must

make incremental progress that will ultimately get us to our standard. we owe the american people no less. i thank the subcommittee for inviting me to participate and i look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues, the department of home land security and other federal and state local agencies and private stakeholders on this very important issue. >> thank you very much. we appreciate you taking the time and we'll dismiss you and ask for the next panel to come. i recognize your passion on this issue and that really is -- that was the impetus and will be the crux of all of our questions here today. we can either achieve the mandates of congress or if not issue a realistic way to implement that and where we're going with all of this, as well. so it will be an interesting hearing. >> thank you very much. >> also, just want to -- i have no questions, but also i know you work hard with mr. thompson

on this. so i appreciate your good work. >> thank you. >> thank you. we'll ask the second panel to come forwar>> thank you very mu.

come forwarcome forward. >> okay. you're all suited up, ready to go. i think what i'll do is just for our panel and we're looking forward to all your testimony, i'll just introduce you all at once and we'll start with mr. heyman. but let me read your bios a bit. we're delighted to have david

heyman, assist apartment secretary faunt secretary for policy. he led the research and program activities focusing on developing the strategies and policies to help build and transform the united states federal, state, local and private sector homeland security institution. mr. mclee in an is responsible for protection operations at 20 major field offices. 331 ports of entry. and over 70 locations with a staff of more than 28,000 employees and an operating budget of over $3.5 billion. rear admiral paul zukunft is

responsible for developing national marine safety, security and environmental protection doctrine, policy and regulations as well as ensuring policy alignment through the federal government and with international maritime partners. he recently served as the federal on screen coordinator for the deep water who awater h incident in the gulf. he directed federal, state and local agency mies in their respe sefrts. fr. >> mr. steve caldwell recent reports covered issues related to protecting critical infrastructure, maritime transportation security act and court security exercises, maritime domain awareness, container security programs and

risk management for critical structure, as well. the chair will recognize mr. heyman. >> thank you for allowing me to be here. i'm pleased to highlight our work. this is an issue of great importance to us. international trade is this this engine that has how the power of economies all around the world, billions of dollars worth of commodities and merchandises move between trading partners every honesty by hand, sea and air. and the modern international trading system or the global supply chain that under the exchange of countries is a system that's evolved over decades and we've experienced a dramatic transformation over the past quarter of a century with the in-ity grags and inter-connection of buyers and sellers and manufacturers all over the world. information and communication

technologies have enabled this transformation creating jobs, wealth and opportunity. today that supply chadescribe provides products that sustain our lives. it means our economies are more inner dependent. it also renders vulnerable to disruption. disruptions can have a significant impact on our national economies and as such governments and businesses around the world have a vital interest in transforming the old model of efficiency and adopting a new model based on ensuring the integrity and reliability of supply chain. that is precisely what we seek to achieve with the administration's new national strategy for global supply chain security. two weeks ago, secretary napolitano