Who We Are
Securing Florida and America...at the Water’s Edge
15 years ago, the United States addressed the potential threat to her ports, commerce and citizens by passing the 2006 SAFE Port Act, mandating all shipping containers be scanned for nuclear/radiological threats before reaching U.S. soil.
Current Day
Fifteen years later, as the western world is facing dangerous showdowns with nuclear-armed adversaries, America remains wide open to the threat of chemical and nuclear attack. The reason: domestic ports still rely on older radiation monitors that only scan containers when leaving U.S. ports.
Florida, working with Safe Port Terminals, has the opportunity to lead America’s response to this threat. The solution: upgrade a previously proven radiation detection system to scan 100% of ocean containers before reaching U.S. soil.
Our Mission
Safe Port Terminals recognizes America’s port defense begins at the water’s edge, and now has modernized technology that would not only secure Florida ports from the unthinkable but provide a master class for all others to follow.
Safe Port Terminals
Awareness
Less than five percent of incoming ocean containers are scanned for nuclear/radiation threats by DHS officers stationed abroad.
The Risk
Unscanned ocean containers, stored for days at terminals, expose port workers and proximate neighborhoods to radiation or explosions from any of the thousands of missing radioactive material cases.
Infrastructure
22 US ports unload or load over 96% of all ocean containers, 17 of which are designated as critical strategic U.S. national defense seaports needed to support American military activities at home and abroad.
These ports are primarily located in heavily populated urban areas, in a nation where nearly 40% of citizens now live close to the nation’s coastline.
The Rand Corporation has called this
“a poor man's ICBM waiting to happen”.
Technology needs
While the 2006 SAFE Port Act mandated radiation scanning of containers entering ports, Congress didn’t appropriate sufficient funding for the purchase and operation of best-in-class scanning equipment for containers moving from ship-to-shore.
Taking Action
Amendments are needed not to seek more appropriations but to mandate that U.S. ports use a radiation detection service overseen by DHS for nuclear/radiation scanning and paid for by fees on container shippers.