Background Checks for Port Workers
April 25, 2006 by Splatty
Filed under Misc Logistics, Seafreight
According to an article by the AP, U.S. port workers will now be required to undergo background checks for links to terrorism and to ensure they are legal U.S. citizens.
The heightened scrutiny — which will begin immediately — drew praise from some lawmakers and port associations that said the checks were long overdue. Others jeered the security measures as either too weak or too invasive of workers’ privacy rights.
Names of an estimated 400,000 employees who work in the most sensitive areas of ports will be matched against government terror watch lists and immigration databases,
Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff said. They will be among roughly 750,000 workers — including truckers and rail employees — who have unrestricted access to ports and will be required to carry tamper-resistant identification cards by next year.“What this will do is it will elevate security at our ports themselves so that we can be sure that those who enter our ports to do business come for legitimate reasons and not in order to do us harm,” Chertoff said. He called the safeguards part of a “ring of security” around U.S. ports.
The background checks will not examine workers’ criminal history, although Chertoff left open that possibility for the future. source – AP via Yahoo News
Of course there are some drawbacks to the program, for instance port workers will not be checked for criminal history, however I think it is a step in the right direction and long overdue.
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