Massport chief urges more security screening for US harbors

The head of the Massachusetts Port Authority told an international audience of port administrators yesterday that implementation of a long-delayed federal identification program for maritime workers is needed to ensure the security of major American seaports.

"We simply must do a better job of screening the people we allow to have access to the sensitive areas of our ports," Thomas J. Kinton, Massport's executive director, said in opening remarks at the American Association of Port Authorities' annual three-day security conference, which began yesterday at Boston's Hyatt Harborside hotel.

"I think we all agree that providing background checks for people with access to critical infrastructure like port docks is long overdue," he said.

Congress first ordered the Transportation Security Administration to develop a high-tech identification card for employees with access to secure areas of the nation's ports in 2002, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Development of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential stalled, however, due largely to concerns about workers' privacy and logistical problems in designing the program.

Port workers should be able to enroll in the card program this fall, Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman, said yesterday.

Workers must pass a TSA- administered threat assessment in order to receive the card, which will contain the worker's fingerprint, digital photograph, and other biographical information.

Despite the delay in distributing the cards, Kinton said he is pleased with steps taken to bolster security at the Port of Boston, especially improved collection and dissemination of intelligence and increased collaboration among public safety agencies.

Regular meetings of officials from agencies including Massport, the Coast Guard, the Boston Police Department, State Police, and US Customs and Border Protection have made the port more secure, said Joseph Lawless, Massport's head of port and bridge security.

"This collaboration allows us to create a larger system of security that includes redundancies," Lawless said in an interview during the conference yesterday. "We hope nothing falls through the cracks, but if it does, that's why we have this layered system."

Lawless said he did yet not know how Massport would be affected by the 17 percent cut in federal security grants announced yesterday, but said funding issues constantly force security officials to make difficult decisions.

"It becomes difficult when the pot of money shrinks," Lawless said. "The list of programs has to be prioritized in order to meet funding levels, and in that case, some things fall off the table, which is unfortunate."

The federal funding cuts will force Massachusetts to do more with less, Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement yesterday, adding that he hopes the federal government "rethinks its current stance toward state and local funding and rededicates itself to fully funding state homeland security departments."

A new round of federal antiterrorist grants to cities showed big gains this year for some cities -- such as San Diego, Phoenix, and Denver -- and cuts for others, including Boston, Miami, Milwaukee, and Sacramento.

Overseas shipping containers and liquefied natural gas shipments make the Port of Boston particularly vulnerable, Coast Guard Captain James L. McDonald said in an interview during yesterday's conference.

All deep-draft freighters must give 96 hours advance notice before entering the port, providing the Coast Guard with detailed information about the ship's last ports of call, its cargo, and its crew, McDonald said. If the Coast Guard's computer system determines that the ship could present a risk, Coast Guard inspectors board the ship at sea by helicopter before allowing it to pass into port, McDonald said.

All containers are screened for radiation at South Boston's Conley Terminal.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Ryan Haggerty can be reached at rhaggerty@globe.com.