UPDATE: The Senate Passed Senator Murray’s Bill on 9/14/06
“Today’s incident at Terminal 18 should raise red flags across our country and in the halls of Congress about the vulnerability of our cargo containers and of our ports.
“Luckily for the people of Seattle – and our national economy – today’s scare appears to be a false alarm. I applaud our port staff and cargo inspectors for a job well done. They did a great job in a tense situation.
“But our port workers, inspectors and the American public deserve to know that the cargo entering our country each day is safe. To protect America, we have to increase our security and know what is in our cargo containers.
“That’s why the Senate leadership must take up and pass the bi-partisan cargo security legislation that I wrote with Senator Susan Collins of Maine last year. The GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act has already passed a key Senate Committee and the House of Representatives, but the Senate leadership refuses to make our security a priority.
“Each year, six million cargo containers enter U.S. seaports, and as we saw today, we frequently don’t know what is in those containers or whether they have been tampered with.
“Today’s incident shut down a terminal for several hours, but a terrorist attack on our ports could cause devastating loss of life and the shut down of ports and economic activity across the country.
“Back in Washington, D.C., it might feel like the dangers at our ports are a distant concern. But standing in downtown Seattle today, we know that the threat is real and close at hand.
“It is time to do the right thing and pass the GreenLane act for the safety and security of America.”
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