Feds order new level of security for ferries

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter

TETONA DUNLAP / AP A U.S. Coast Guard boat, right, watches as a ferry leaves Colman Dock in Seattle earlier this year. A new Coast Guard directive triples the number of cars per day that Washington State Patrol must screen for explosives.

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Just as in July, when new federal maritime security laws first took effect, the state is struggling to meet the requirements or face reduced ferry schedules or even a possible shutdown of the system.

The new directive triples the number of cars per day that Washington State Patrol must screen for explosives. Yet the Patrol has had difficulty meeting the old security levels.

The state ferry system, the nation's largest, carries 25 million passengers a year — more than the Amtrak railway system moves nationwide.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Jolie Shisslet said the order, which affects large ferry systems nationwide, was in response to heightened concerns of a terrorist attack as the presidential election nears. She said the order will hold at least through the presidential inauguration in January.

The FBI determined earlier this spring that Washington's ferry system was the target of surveillance by possible terrorists, U.S. Attorney John McKay said yesterday.

That assessment describes what McKay has said is a disturbing series of incidents that seem to indicate a group of individuals has been watching the ferries, taking notes, snapping photographs and attempting to access areas on boats and in terminals where the public is not allowed.

Facing a deadline of Oct. 9, the Patrol is considering reassigning troopers and borrowing officers and bomb-sniffing dogs from other agencies. Even then, the agency likely will have to conduct random searches of cars at ferry docks — opening trunks and going through the passenger compartments — even though state laws say such searches are illegal.

If the State Patrol fails to comply, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Danny Ellis said ferry schedules may have to be reduced or the ferry system could be shut down.

"We are trying hard to minimize the impact on schedules and operations," said Ellis, the captain of the Port of Seattle. "But they will have to do this."

Doug MacDonald, the state secretary of transportation and interim director of the ferry system, thinks the agency will comply with the new directive "without having to resort to those more Draconian methods" of reducing schedules or stopping service entirely. He would not speculate on how that will be accomplished.
 
"It's still too early to say. Our only concern right now is meeting the level of deterrence required by the Coast Guard," he said.

The order marks the second time this year the Coast Guard has threatened to shut down the state's ferry system if security requirements weren't met.

The State Patrol has struggled to meet minimum security requirements that took effect in July as part of the Maritime Transportation Security Act, passed by Congress in 2002 to harden the nation's ports and waterways following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The act requires escalating security responses for each of three Maritime Security Levels, One through Three, which are tied to the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded threat levels.

At Level One, the State Patrol was, among other things, required to screen roughly 2,000 cars per day for explosives using explosive-detecting dogs — five percent of the average 40,000 cars per day that use the ferry system, said sources familiar with the requirements.

Even though the State Patrol had nearly a year — until July 1 — to meet these requirements, on June 20 Ellis issued a formal order and threatened to close the ferries because the ferry system and Patrol said they could not meet the deadline.

In the end, the Patrol borrowed explosive-sniffing dogs from several agencies to meet the 5 percent requirement, and as recently as two weeks ago was still borrowing the occasional dog, said Scott Davis, director of safety systems for the state ferries.

Then, last month, the Coast Guard told the ferry system the screening requirements for Level One were being increased to what had been the security response for Level Two — 15 percent of vehicles, or about 6,000 cars a day. It also requires screening 25 percent of vans and trucks — vehicles more likely to carry the sort of explosive device that could cripple a ferry.

Just a week before the new directive was issued, Ellis had said in an interview that he was skeptical that the ferry system would be able to comply with what was then the Level Two response — the 15 percent of screenings now mandated.

The order was issued to Coast Guard Commandant Thomas Collins and affects all "large-capacity" ferries that carry 500 passengers or more. The Washington ferry system is the largest in the country, carrying more than 11 million cars and 25 million people annually. Its fleet includes 22 of the 60 ferries affected by the Coast Guard order nationally.

Ferry systems in Texas, Louisiana, Alaska, New York and Massachusetts also will be affected, Shisslet said.

State Patrol Capt. Mike DePalma, who oversees the Patrol's Vessel and Terminal Security teams, would not discuss specifics on how the Patrol would meet the Coast Guard's deadline, but he acknowledged that redeployment of troopers, possible mandatory overtime and the physical searching of cars were among the options.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who sits on the Senate budget committee and is ranking member of the transportation appropriations subcommittee, said she is very concerned about the effects of the new regulations. She has pressed the Department of Homeland Security — so far to no avail — to make additional money available. So far, the state has received about $14 million in homeland-security grants, although State Patrol budget officials have said none of that money has gone to hire troopers or buy dogs.

The prospect of longer ferry lines, reduced schedules or temporary closure of the system would badly impact the state's economy, Murray said.

"If they believe we need to make the ferries safer and secure, then they have to come up with the federal dollars to do it," she said.

The state Legislature also has struggled to fund ferry security. Money for bomb dogs wasn't available until the same day the new maritime security act became law in July, and then the Patrol's request was only partly funded, said State Patrol budget officer Bob Mackie.

The state gave the Patrol $972,000 on July 1 to fund eight dog teams that would allow the state to comply with Maritime Security Level One, Mackie said.

The Patrol asked for an additional $958,000 to hire troopers and buy and train bomb-dog teams to allow it to comply with Level Two — a total of about 20 dog teams. It received $157,000 for dogs and was told troopers to handle them would have to come from existing ranks.

"It will require an immense effort by ourselves and our security partners," DePalma said. He added that the Patrol hopes to do this without impacting its other law-enforcement responsibilities.

The Patrol's effort likely will include random physical searches of vehicles, despite a state Supreme Court ruling that says the state constitution bars random searches.

Doug Klunder, the Privacy Project director for the Washington chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, has been monitoring the issue of ferry vehicle searches since July. He said an assistant attorney general called him yesterday to discuss the ferry searches.

"We're very concerned," he said. "But we will talk before we litigate."

Assistant Washington Attorney General Steve Reinmuth said the Attorney General's Office thinks the Coast Guard order, coupled with the FBI threat assessment, would allow the state to make legal physical searches of cars.

U.S. Attorney McKay said yesterday he also is willing to designate state troopers as federal marshals or argue that a car waiting to board a ferry falls under federal jurisdiction, which does not prohibit such searches.

"The bottom line is that we are going to do what we need to do to ensure the safety of the public," McKay said.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com