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U.S. Starting to Focus on Maritime/Seaborne Terror
Assault on Israeli Ashdod Port Kills 10, Mega Attack Narrowly Avoided
Renewing concerns over the safety of the maritime sector in the United States, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the FBI have identified eleven individuals working within the U.S. merchant marine community with suspected links to terrorist organizations, according to FBI Counter Terrorism Chief Gary Bald. All eleven have been placed on the "No-Fly" and "Watchlist" maintained at the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC). The TSC is administered by the FBI and was created to consolidate terrorist watchlists and provide 24/7 operational support for thousands of Federal screeners across the country and around the world.
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Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, January 27, 2004, Bald revealed that a 14-month joint investigation, designated "Operation Drydock", included an extensive review and background check of the more than 200,000 merchant marine licenses issued by the USCG to identify possible terrorist links and counterfeit licenses. In addition to certifying an individual's ability to operate a vessel, merchant marine licenses are often used by persons to board and depart ships in foreign ports.
The joint investigation uncovered eleven individuals with suspected links to terrorism and exposed, "thousands of cases of possible fraud or other problems, including mariners with active arrest warrants," according to U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Jolie Shifflet. In addition, the USCG and the FBI teamed up with U.S. Navy officials to remove more than a dozen individuals scheduled to serve on U.S. Navy sealift command ships supporting the military buildup in the Middle East prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Civilian merchant mariners support the Navy's sealift capabilities heavily.
Speaking before the Senate, Bald told senators that another 700 civilian mariners had, "issues related to law enforcement and maritime concerns." This April, more than 100 workers at the Port of Miami were stripped of their security passes - including access to restricted areas - pending criminal investigations and background checks, according to James R. McDonough, Florida Director for Drug Control. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration announced a step-up in vigilance when renewing and issuing maritime certificates and port security passes.
Terrorist infiltration of the maritime industry is rapidly becoming a major concern as U.S. and foreign governments race to secure port facilities from the threat of seaborne terrorism. This issue was recently addressed by JINSA in the article, Hazardous Seas: Maritime Sector Vulnerable to Devastating Terrorist Attacks.
Recent events, including the twin suicide bombings at the Israeli port of Ashdod in April 2004, unveil an already increasing interest in seaborne terrorist attacks given prominence by the attacks on the USS Cole in 2000 and the French supertanker M/V Limburg two years later.
Ashdod Port Facility Attack
 Port at Ashdod. |
Port security officials are especially alarmed by the successful March infiltration by Palestinian terrorists into the Israeli Port of Ashdod 15 miles south of Tel Aviv. The attacks killed 10 port workers. Ashdod has long been considered one of the most secure port facilities in the world because security guards there inspect 100 percent of the cargo containers coming into the port. The Ashdod port, however, see only a small fraction of the cargo containers that come through American ports. At present, the U.S. is able to inspect only five percent of incoming containers.
 Victims of Ashdod attack. |
Two 17-year-old Palestinians from Gaza hid in a secret compartment located behind a false wall in the rear of a 40-foot container loaded with marble and ceramic tiling. The container was then loaded onto a Palestinian truck and transported through the Israeli Port Authority-run Karni Crossing separating Gaza from Israel, according to Fairplay International Shipping Weekly, April 8, 2004. According to Israeli security procedures, the container was brought to a "dead zone" within the border crossing where an Israeli truck retrieved the container and transported it a short distance to an inspection bay where Israeli security personnel conducted an electronic scan of the container as well as a physical inspection of the interior and exterior. The false wall was not detected.
The container was trucked to the Port of Ashdod a few hours later. There, the two Palestinian terrorists emerged from the container wearing Israeli Army uniforms. They detonated their explosive vests inside an engineering shop and near a perimeter fence. Why the large fuel and chemical storage
 Palestinians celebrate the Ashdod attack. |
facilities located at the port - long recognized as potential terrorist targets - were not targeted remains a mystery.
Israeli investigators attribute the breakdown in security to the Karni Crossing inspectors - one of whom has already been suspended. Neither the Palestinian truck driver nor the Palestinian businessman who imported the container is suspected of participating in the attack.
An al Qaeda connection?
Israeli officials investigating the Ashdod attack continue to cite mounting evidence that an outside terrorist network assisted the Palestinians suicide
 Mazal Marciano, 30 years-old, wife and mother of two young sons, is one of the 10 workers murdered at the Port of Ashdod by the two Palestinian terrorists. |
bombers though Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the military wing of Fatah all claimed responsibility for the attack. Preliminary reports indicate the explosives used in the Ashdod attacks were exotic and not previously known to have been acquired by Palestinian terror groups, Fairplay reported. Additional intelligence suggests the false wall in the container was manufactured and fitted in a foreign country prior to the container's arrival in Gaza. Al Qaeda-affiliated terror groups have been known to smuggle operatives into countries by shipping containers. For more information, see the JINSA article, Hazardous Seas: Maritime Sector Vulnerable to Devastating Terrorist Attacks.
The Ashdod attacks further highlight the fact that terrorist groups are continuing to exploit the vulnerability of maritime facilities around the world. Moreover, protocols mandated under the International Ship and Port Facility Security Act (ISPS) that are designed to increase security at worldwide port facilities still do not match those implemented by the Israeli government, according to Fairplay.
By JINSA Editorial Assistant Jonathan Howland
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