Investing in seaport security

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood visits the Port of Oakland today to gain a first-hand view of how a $15 million federal TIGER grant will be spent.

While much of the money will be used to enhance the port’s rail network, there will also be substantial investment made to make Oakland more secure.

The projects soon to be underway include:

*Expansion of the Port’s Geospatial Security Mapping System/Geographic Information System, a tool that has been developed to streamline incident management for first responders and public safety agencies;
*Enhancement of maritime domain awareness via augmentation of the Port’s CCTV system and expansion of Emergency Operation Center technological capabilities; and
*Addition to the fiber optic network to expand communications service and provide system redundancy.

According to said Port Facilities Security Officer Mike O’Brien, these security projects build on a strong base that has been developed over the last several years during 12 rounds of grant funding and will greatly help with interoperability between agencies and improving domain awareness in our maritime area.

This is money well spent, as the port will significantly enhance its capability to prepare, prevent, respond and recover from incidents in the maritime area with these approved projects.