For Immediate Release
April 27, 1999 

PRESIDENT ESTABLISHES GRAHAM COMMISSION ON SEAPORT SECURITY
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In February of 1997, Vice President Gore presented the findings of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. Just over a year later, U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) suggested that President Clinton extend that analysis to the hubs of trade and transportation that handle nearly 95 percent of U.S. trade; seaports.
On Tuesday, April 27, President Clinton implemented that recommendation by establishing the Graham Commission on Seaport Crime and Security. The commission will be co-chaired by three members of the President's Cabinet Attorney General Janet Reno, Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, and Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin.
While trade through seaports is predicted to triple in the next two decades, these harbors are increasingly plagued by problems of drug trafficking, automobile and cargo theft, illegal immigration, and food safety. These challenges are compounded by a bureaucratic maze that hampers the port oversight and modernization needed to help the United States compete in the global economy of the 21st Century. 
"Since the early days of the United States, seaports have been our windows to the world and an integral past of their communities" said Graham earlier today. "We can't 1et criminals and complacence hijack this critical source of economic activity."
The Graham Commission on Seaport Crime and Security will include up to twenty-five members from Executive Branch departments and agencies with an interest and expertise in issues related to seaport crime, security, and other relevant maritime issues. The commission members will have one year to comprehensively review crime and security concerns at the nation's many seaports. At the end of that twelve month period, the commission will be required to report their findings to Congress and make policy recommendations for reducing crime, enhancing infrastructure, and improving oversight of U.S. seaports.
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GRAHAM COMMISSION ON SEAPORT SECURITY
Seaports are a major source of economic activity in the United States. They handle 95 percent of U.S. trade with non-contiguous countries. This trade, including both cargo and passengers, is expected to triple in the next l 5 to 20 years.
According to the Maritime Administration at U.S. Dept. of Transportation and the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), ports generate significant local and regional economic growth. Commercial port activities in 1996 provided employment for 1.4 million Americans. Port activity contributed $74.8 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and personal income of $52.7 billion in 1996. Port activities in l 996 accounted for federal taxes of $14.7 billion, and state and local tax revenues amounting to $5.5 billion.
The combined economic impact -- direct, indirect, and induced -- of the U.S. port industry in 1996 was even greater. According to AAPA, it included:
* 13.1 million jobs
* $494.2 billion in personal income
* $1.5 trillion in business sales
* $742.9 billion to the Nation's GDP
* $199.5 billion in Federal, state and local taxes
Unfortunately, due to a number of problems, our port management systems are decades behind the rest of the world, and decades behind our own airport management systems. 
These problems include:
LACK OF PORT SAFETY ON THE WATER
European ports utilize the latest technologies as well as more powerful and maneuverable tugboats. Such approaches are particularly important when ports accept the new "Megaships and Supertankers." In contrast, the United States is mired in a poorly coordinated system of rules and regulations. We must establish a coordinated system to ensure that: (l) the approaches to our harbors are safe; (2) harbor channels are sufficiently deep; and, (3) there are enough properly certified pilots to guide these new, larger ships. As the volume of trade and maritime traffic increases, failure to fulfill these requirements could lead to massive environmental disasters and/or human tragedies.
INADEQUATE PORT CONTROL SYSTEMS
Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has significant statutory control over airport operations, no Federal agency currently has, comprehensive authority to regulate activity at seaports. The Federal Maritime Commission's authority is thinly spread. For example, the Commission only has one employee in Florida, a state with four of the twenty busiest U.S ports.
This lack of administration has serious consequences. For example, while U.S. airports have strict access requirements, most U.S. seaports do not have identification control. 
This makes it easier for unauthorized individuals involved in criminal activities to access port areas.
In addition, recent surveys indicate that up to fifty percent of dock workers at the Port of Miami have prior felony criminal records. Many of those criminal records include drug trafficking offenses.
TERRORISM
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers Study, the cruise passenger industry, which depends upon ports, spent $6.6 billion on goods and services in the U.S. in 1997. Those expenditures generated 176,433 U.S. jobs. Total economic impact of cruise lines, passengers and their suppliers was $1 1.6 billion. In 1999, the cruise industry will move 10 million passengers, 80% of which are Americans, through U.S. seaports.
The large and growing volume of passenger travel through our seaports presents a daunting challenge. Although the threat of terrorist acts means that access to airports is strictly controlled, no similar controls are placed on the seaports that handle thousands of passenger and cruise ships. The October 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro presents a real and horrifying example of the threats posed to this industry by terrorists.
The top five U.S. cruise port cities are Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral Los Angeles and New York.
AUTO THEFT RINGS
Auto theft is the most costly property crime in the nation, with $7.6 billion lost annually. 
Of the 1.4 million vehicles stolen each year in the United States, over 200,000 are exported through our nation's seaports. The value of exported stolen vehicles is estimated to be in excess of $3 billion.
Metropolitan areas near major seaports have the highest rates of auto theft, a situation that causes higher insurance rates for every driver in the surrounding area.
International auto theft rings operate with relative impunity because the penalties for such crimes are smal1 and insignificant. At the same time, the profits from auto theft are almost as high as those from drug trafficking. In fact, many of those involved in international auto theft rings are also involved or associated wish drug trafficking organizations.
Ineffective regulations controlling trade in containerized cargo make the detection of illegal activities difficult, and as a result, thieves often conceal exported autos in ship cargo containers. Unfortunately, the fact that containerized cargo is the fastest growing method of transport means that opportunities for the export of stolen vehicles are on the rise.
In 1998, recoveries of stolen vehicles at seaports out paced land border recoveries by a margin of 500 to 202. The Ports of Miami (200), Newark (172), Long Beach (81), Jacksonville (60), and Port Everglades (50) ranked first through fifth in stolen vehicle recoveries. The Ports of San Francisco and Chicago also have significant stolen auto export problems.
CARGO THEFT
The growing U.S. cargo theft crisis has a scope and dimensions that are not realized by most people outside of the law enforcement community. Cargo theft around seaports accounts for losses of over $1 billion each year. For example, En Fiscal Year 1997, law enforcement officials recovered over $6 million in stolen cargo in the Miami area alone.
The problem of cargo theft has increased dramatically in recent years, a development that hurts every American. Prices on legitimate goods increase due to higher increase premiums. For example, it is estimated that high-tech cargo crime adds $150 to the consumer price of every computer sold in the United States. As a result, legitimate businesses cannot compete with black market goods, thereby costing American jobs.
Weak sentencing guidelines lead to extremely light sentences for cargo theft, compared to the normally heavy sentences for drug offenses of similar monetary value These sentencing differences have encouraged many criminals to switch from drug trafficking to cargo theft.
Annual losses due to cargo theft are estimated to be in excess of $10 billion. The majority of cargo theft occurs within 1.5 miles of ports.
DRUG TRAFFICKING
It is estimated that the majority of narcotics shipped through ports is hidden in containerized cargo. This has had severe consequences in those regions of the county most susceptible to the drug trade. For example, narcotics traffickers are shifting their transhipment operations from Mexico back to the Caribbean. This move has particularly serious implications for South Florida, which continues to be the leading geographical location for heroin and cocaine seizures.
It is estimated that during Fiscal Year 1998, fifty metric tons of cocaine were concealed in commercial shipments and shipped directly into to the United States through seaports.
In that same year, 86,000 pounds of controlled substances were seized entering the U.S. through seaports. This included 51,722 lbs of cocaine and 34,060 lbs marijuana. Cocaine seizures at seaports represented 80% of total cocaine seizures in the U S.
In fiscal year 1997, the U.S. Customs Service seized 49,260 lbs of cocaine hidden in commercial cargo. There were a total of 220 seizures nationwide. In addition, there were 114 seizures of marijuana (83,597 lbs).
A complete shortfall in seaport security standards results in easy access to port property, freight containers, and ships. Many seaports lacks surveillance cameras and sufficient police patrols and lighting, and are hampered by in-house criminal activities.
Many dock workers have been hired without proper security background checks. Case in point: on March 6, 199B at Port Everglades in South Florida, 14 arrests were made on federal drug conspiracy charges. A group of dock workers had imported 3.000 lbs of cocaine and 10,000 lbs of marijuana. In the past two years, the U.S. Customs Service has seized 25,516 lbs of cocaine and 80,569 lbs of marijuana at Port Everglades.
CURRENCY
Customs overall currency seizure data indicates that the three largest currency seizures were made in seaports. This includes an $11.2 million seizure at Port Newark in 1998, a $9.5 million seizure and a $7 million seizure.
Customs' experience is that the largest currency seizures are usually made at seaports because more currency can be physically smuggled in this environment. The currency is easier to conceal with a reduced risk of discovery by U. S. law enforcement personnel because of the sheer number of commercial exports.
FOOD SAFETY
The U.S. Customs Service has discovered a substantial diversion of foodstuffs in order to avoid inspection upon entering the country. Customs believes that it simply cannot control imported foodstuffs under the current resource allocation regime. Food safety is a major public health issue and can have tremendous economic consequences -- for example, the furor surrounding Chilean grapes several years ago.
Total shipments of imported foods have doubled since 1991. Imports constitute 38% of the fruit, and 12% of vegetables consumed in the U.S.
There have been numerous cases of sickness resulting from imported raspberries, lettuce, strawberries and other perishable products. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspects only 2% of food imports.
Customs does not believe that it can control imported foodstuffs with its available resources. The President has requested $25 million in the fiscal year 1999 budget to hire 250 additional inspectors.
SMUGGLING OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Trafficking in human cargo continues to be a problem nationwide. Economic difficulties and human rights abuses in other countries will most likely cause this problem to grow.
PROBLEMS PARTICULAR TO FLORIDA
While seaports are a national concern, no one state is more affected by this problem than Florida.
The Port of Miami is the number one passenger port in the country, and is the eighth busiest cargo port. Total activity at the Port of Miami is growing by approximately 15% each year. The State of Florida has five of the twenty busiest ports in the nation -- Miami, Tampa, Port Everglades, Jacksonville, and West Palm Beach. Port Canaveral, where a container station is under construction, may soon join them.
South Florida continues to have the highest auto theft rates in the country. In Fiscal Year 1997, 186 vehicles -- valued at $4.7 million -- were recovered at the Port of Miami, resulting in 54 arrests; authorities also recovered 23 other items (motorcycles, jet skis, heavy equipment, etc.) valued at $880,000. In total, authorities estimate that 88,950 vehicles were exported from the four South Florida ports.
In FY 1997, South Florida authorities recovered stolen cargo valued at over $6 million. This included computers (32.4%), clothing (27.5%), electronics (18 %), and technical equipment (17 9%).
That same year, 72.5% of all seaport cocaine seizures occurred in Miami. This seizure rate exists despite the fact that South Florida has lost a combined 150 Special Agent positions from DEA, Customs, and the FBI in the past several years.
THE SOLUTION
Recognizing that seaports are a locus of crime, President Clinton has determined that a comprehensive review is required to examine the nature and extent of seaport crime and the overall state of security in seaports. He is establishing the Presidential Commission on Seaport Crime and Security, also known as the Graham Commission.
The Commission will be co-chaired by the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Treasury, and the Attorney General. It will have up to 25 members from Executive Branch departments and agencies with an interest in seaport crime and security. Seeking input from state and local governments and the private sector, the Commission will conduct a comprehensive study of all serious crime in a maritime context. It will complete a report that includes a description of the nature and extent of coordination of federal, state and local governments and provide recommendations for improvements in this area.
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