By Calvin Biesecker
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) strategy and draft implementation plan for small vessel security relies on existing programs that it hasn’t evaluated and need improvement, according to a recent Inspector General (IG) report from the department.
Programs such as America’s Waterway Watch, Citizens Action Network and the Pleasure Boat Reporting System are not well known, are underused, or are too small, the IG says in its report, DHS’ Strategy and Plans to Counter Small Vessel Threats Needs Improvement (OIG-09-100). The report was released last week.
In addition, the report says that information sharing processes within DHS that could bolster small vessel security suffer in part due to the maintenance of separate law enforcement databases by the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which are not readily accessible by the other agency.
CBP operates the TEC database, which provides access to “personally identifiable information” gathered from other government database. TECS is available to many government agencies yet the Coast Guard only has limited access to the database and does not routinely update the information through its own vessel interdictions, the IG says.
The Coast Guard uses its Maritime Information for Safety and Law Enforcement system for storing information from small vessel interdictions. CBP and other law enforcement entities don’t have quick access to this system, the report says.
“The disconnect between the Maritime Information for Safety and Law Enforcement and TECS, and the department’s methods for inputting, storing, and retrieving information, may restrict the ability of CBP, the Coast Guard, and other law enforcement agencies to counter small vessel threats,” the IG says.
As for the citizen watch type programs, the IG points to a host of shortcomings. For example, the report says that of the estimated 13 million registered boat users in the United States, as many has 90 percent haven’t been provided information about the American Waterway Watch program.
The program is an outlet to provide information on suspicious behaviors using a 24-hour hotline, yet in 2007 the Coast Guard only received 197 calls from the public. Moreover, once the calls are routed to the appropriate authorities in an area there is no follow-up. Nor are the phone numbers of the callers recorded, the IG says.
“As a result, the Coast Guard is unable to determine the overall effectiveness of the America’s Waterway Watch program,” the IG says. “A method to track the calls and their outcome is essential to monitor and evaluate the program’s efficiency and effectiveness.”
The IG says the Small Vessel Security Strategy and a draft implementation plan view the watch program as “key” in developing strong partnerships with the small vessel community to improve Maritime Domain Awareness.
Another partnership program deemed important in the implementation plan to improving small vessel security is the Citizen Action Network, which makes use of trained members as well as the general public, the report says. This program can track outcomes of the information that is provided as well as overall participation, two important factors in being able to judge its effectiveness, the IG says.
The IG says that DHS should evaluate the Citizen Action Network as a best practice program to better leverage the public’s involvement rather than the Waterway Watch effort.
However, DHS disagrees with the IG’s recommendation that the various watch programs should be evaluated for their effectiveness. According to the IG, DHS says its components considered the effectiveness of the various programs before submitting them as actions for the implementation plan.
The IG, in turn, says that DHS hasn’t been able to provide evidence that the citizen watchdog programs have been evaluated for their effectiveness.
“Further, during the course of the review, we identified weaknesses in these programs that could hinder their effectiveness in combating the small vessel threat,” the IG says.
DHS published the Small Vessel Security Strategy in April 2008 (Defense Daily, April, 29, 2008). A final implementation plan hasn’t been approved.