By Steve Strunsky, The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Straddling the New Jersey Turnpike are one of the nation’s busiest passenger airports and one of its busiest shipping ports.
With major land, sea and air hubs running side by side, experts say a single terror attack could cripple the northeast region’s transportation and freight hauling infrastructure. With millions of residents nearby, the human consequences could be even more devastating, especially if nuclear materials are involved.
On Wednesday, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken plans to release a new report recommending ways to improve responses to perceived or actual terror attacks, mainly through better information sharing among agencies at all levels of government.
“This was clearly one of the most dangerous and critical points in the United States,” Jerry MacArthur Hultin, a principal investigator on the Stevens report, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “The havoc that an attack would cause would be substantial. And the secondary impact that radiation drifting toward Manhattan would have would just increase it on an order of magnitude.”
Hultin, a former undersecretary of the Navy in the Clinton Administration who is now dean of Stevens’ Howe School of Technology Management, said the study calls for development of an information-sharing network comprised of 30 law enforcement and other government agencies and private companies involved with the air and sea ports.
Hultin said the report will be presented to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Smith Richardson Foundation, based in Westport, Conn., commissioned the report.
Anthony Ciavolella, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said improved communication is a goal of the agency.
“The Port Authority is already proactively engaged in the sharing of intelligence information with federal, state and local entities to ensure the safety of the region,” he said.
Hultin acknowledged that the ports are more secure than they were before Sept. 11, 2001. But there is still room for improvement, he said.
One instance in which information sharing would have saved the Coast Guard, the Port Authority and other agencies time, effort and money was the detention of a Liberian cargo ship, the M/V Palermo Senator, in September 2002.
The 708-foot ship was quarantined at sea for four days after low-levels of radiation were detected on board by Coast Guard inspectors. Ceramic tile was later found to be the source of the radiation, which was harmless and occurred naturally.
Under Hultin’s plan, the U.S Customs Service, which had a copy of the ship’s manifest that listed the cargo, would have informed the Coast Guard and other agencies of the source of the radiation.
“There would have been an all-call go out in the network saying ‘I’ve got a ship that seems to have radioactive goods on it, does anyone know anything about it?”’ Hultin said.
The report suggests designating ports in Baltimore, Norfolk and Halifax for shipping goods in case ports in Newark and Elizabeth were not available.
“You could have that all gamed out ahead of time,” Hultin said.
Even old-fashioned turf battles issues can interfere with effective, coordinated responses to attacks or other crises, Hultin said.
“Look at the 9/11 Report and the tensions between the police and fire departments,” Hultin said. “The lack of communication is substantial.”