Who runs port security?

We have two opposite assertions from reasonably credible sources: that the P&O contracts have no security implications because P&O runs longshoring but not security, and that they have vital security implications because the longshoring companies have primary security responsibility. What we need now is a reporter.

Helen Delich Bentley, former administrator of the Federal Maritime Administration, says that the P&O contracts don’t give it, or its new owners at Dubai Ports World, any significant control over security operations. But Clark Kent Ervin, former Inspector General of DHS, says the opposite.

This seems to be a question that has a factual answer. Is there a reporter in the house?

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com