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Us General Accounting Office News

17 Sep 2018

Maritime Industry's Slow Boat to Cyber Security

© vectorfusionart/AdobeStock

Ports making up for lost timeDespite the critical role the maritime transportation system plays in the economic health of the United States, and despite its fairly recent embrace of all things automated – cranes, vehicles, surveillance and even vessels – the sector has been slow to warm to the need to protect its digital systems and assets.Post 9/11, security concerns about the nation’s borders, air space and infrastructure, including ports, moved front and center for a brief moment before other concerns…

01 Mar 2017

Last Port of Call for the U.S. Merchant Marine?

Part II in a two-part series, continued from the January 2017 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News. Read Part I here. If reliance on the foreign commercial market is risky because of uncertain reliability, then what of U.S. Government ownership of a fleet of vessels? That has also been on the menu since the early 20th century. President Woodrow Wilson proposed in September 1914 that the U.S. Government acquire commercial cargo vessels. Congress disagreed, which delayed enactment of the President’s proposal until the Shipping Act, 1916. A compromise was struck to permit U.S. Government ownership as a war time measure – but all vessels so acquired had to be sold to private owners within five years of the end of the war.

06 Feb 2017

Last Port of Call for the US Merchant Marine?

(Photo: © Lefteris Papaulakis / Adobe Stock)

The privately owned U.S.-flag foreign trading fleet, which is an essential component of U.S. sealift capability, stands on the edge of a precipice. The fleet – roughly stable in terms of cargo carrying capacity from 2000 to 2012 – has declined from 106 vessels in 2012 to 78 vessels at October 30, 2016 primarily because of a substantial decline in available U.S. Government-reserved cargo. The size of the fleet has reached a point where the viability of the U.S.-flag industry involved in foreign trade – including its trained mariners…

24 Feb 2004

Security Challenges at Chem Facilities

At a hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations of the House Committee on Government Reform, John B. Stephenson, Director of Natural Resources and Environment of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) testified that chemical facilities may be an attractive target for terrorists. Only those chemical facilities located adjacent to waterways are currently required to prepare and submit security plans. In accordance with the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA), such chemical plant and other waterfront facilities are required to submit security plans to the U.S. Coast Guard. GAO-04-482T (Source: HK Law).

15 Jan 2003

GAO Issue Report on Homeland Security and Information Technology

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued its report entitled Homeland Security: Information Technology Funding and Associated Management Issues

21 Nov 2002

GAO Releases Testimony on Container Security

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) released its Testimony at the recent field hearing of the House Subcommittee on National Security. The GAO stated that it found current programs to detect illegal fissile material to be limited. It also commented on recent cargo security initiatives and continuing challenges. Source: HK Law

21 Feb 2003

Maritrans: Missing Data = Flawed Study

Maritrans Operating Company L.P. said it believes the benefits of deepening the Delaware River to 45 ft. have been severely misstated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). The ACOE report, released in December 2002, concluded that the benefits to cost ratio of the deepening project was 1.18 to 1. The report states that the major benefit of this project is in the form of reduced lightering expenses for refineries along the Delaware River. Maritrans Operating Company L.P., which performs a very high percentage of all lightering for area refineries, reports that the ACOE understated the actual volume of lightering by approximately 25 percent and under-reported the number of hours spent lightering by approximately 35 percent.

05 Mar 2003

Combating Terrorism: Observations on National Strategies

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) delivered testimony before the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations of the House Committee on Government Reform entitled Combating Terrorism: Observations on National Strategies Related to Terrorism

02 Sep 1999

A Good Idea, But...

The General Accounting Office throws some cold water on the USCG's largest acquisition program ever - the Deepwater Project, a $9.8 billion program designed to significantly upgrade the USCG's marine and air fleets over the next 20 years. The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a report (GAO/RCED-99-6) which raises serious questions regarding the USCG's proposed $9.8 billion, 20-year deepwater asset revamp. Specifically, GAO questions the need for such a large program, considering many ships and aircraft are now able to be used well beyond their originally intended service life because of advances in maintenance. GAO also…

03 Apr 2003

GAO: Some Coast Guard Duties Suffer

The Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure conducted a hearing which discussed the Coast Guard's move to the Department of Homeland Security. JayEtta Z. Hecker, Director, Physical Infrastructure, U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) testified that USCG levels of effort in some mission areas, such as fisheries enforcement and drug interdiction, have dropped sharply since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Delays in the planned modernization of cutters and other equipment, responsibility for new security-related tasks as directed under the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA)…

02 Apr 2003

GAO Report Examines Corps Restrictions on Hopper Dredges

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report entitled -'Corps of Engineers Effects of Restrictions on Corps Hopper Dredges Should be Comprehensively Analyzed

27 Sep 2005

Maritime Security: What Lies Ahead?

Angelo emphasises from the start that INTERTANKO believes that any seafarer, or ship operator, that violates the law or willingly and knowingly contributes to the violation of the law, whether it be related to safety, security or protection of the marine environment, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. However his concern at the possible negative safety implications of some legislation and enforcement actions focuses on three items. · First the enactment of Canada’s Bill C-15 which may result in penalties, even in the absence of fault on the part of individual crew members, and could result in a ship’s master being charged for the criminal actions of his subordinates even if they had no knowledge of their actions.