IAMU News - Special Edition

The CALIFORNIA MARITIME ACADEMY

Cal Maritime Steps Up Maritime Security - Continuing Education Efforts

In the United States, as in other countries around the world, the safety and security of the maritime and intermodal infrastructure has never been more important or more at risk. To address this, The California Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime), a campus of The California State University - the largest, most diverse, and one of the most affordable university systems in the United States - has taken a number of measures to step up its continuing education efforts in maritime security.

Included among the initiatives are Cal Maritime's new security training courses, which recently received the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration's (MARAD) approval. Cal Maritime - which developed the three-day courses for vessel security officers, port facility security officers, and company security officers - is only the second training organization in the United States to be certified by MARAD as meeting the requirements of the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) International Ship and Port Security Code (ISPS).

The new security courses, which will be offered through the university's continuing education department, were introduced this May and will be repeated on a regular basis. In addition to sessions on security assessments and plan development/auditing, the three-day courses also includes sessions on Weapons of Mass Destruction, Hazardous Material Releases, and the Incident Command System (ICS)/ National Incident Management System (NIMS).

"As the only accredited maritime academy on the West Coast, we are committed to making all facets of the region's maritime transportation system safer," said Dr. Bill Eisenhardt, president of Cal Maritime, who also serves as chair of the Northern California Area Maritime Security Committee Exercise and Training Working Group. "We are pleased to receive MARAD certification on our security courses and look forward to offering the security training to industry professionals through our expanding continuing education program."

The governmental approval of Cal Maritime's security courses is the latest in a number of initiatives the university has undertaken to demonstrate its leadership position in maritime security education.

"Terrorists" Attack Training Ship GOLDEN BEAR

In a first-of-its-kind Bay Area event conducted last fall at Cal Maritime, Cal Maritime and local and statewide law enforcement learned first-hand what would happen if a maritime terrorist event were to happen on a Bay Area waterway. The role-playing exercise - which involved the active participation of students, faculty, staff, and local and statewide law enforcement, as well as actors posing as masked gunmen - was geared toward helping to determine the local and state agencies' and the maritime industrial community's readiness for a maritime terrorist attack.

The event, which was conducted by Cal Maritime in partnership with CEI Maritime, was a follow up to Cal Maritime's maritime security conference (MARSEC-CON '04) in May 2004. The exercise was targeted to test the security plan of Cal Maritime's Training Ship GOLDEN BEAR as part of compliance with the provisions of the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. This was the first ship security plan exercise of its type to be conducted in California.

Key elements of the day's exercise included "intruders" donning facemasks gaining entry onto the vessel, a simulated small boat attack on the ship, a bomb-sniffing California Highway Patrol canine searching for simulated explosives onboard the vessel, and the United States Air Force Explosive Ordinance Demolition Team from Travis Air Force Base "detonating" the simulated explosives.

"As the only maritime academy on the West Coast, we are committed to taking a leadership position when it applies to developing standardized training and curriculum for our students and the professional maritime community," said Don Zingale, vice president for academic affairs at Cal Maritime. "So while one of the objectives of the exercise was to test the necessary elements of our approved vessel security plan, we will use our lessons learned during the exercise to develop curriculum for ship-oriented security plan training."

Supporting Cal Maritime in the development and execution of this unique exercise is an expert team from Oakland-based CEI Maritime. CEI Maritime is comprised of former US Coast Guard and US Navy personnel who have a strong background in maritime and port security operations and who entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Cal Maritime to develop and implement the exercise.

In addition to participating CEI Maritime experts and Cal Maritime faculty, staff, and students, exercise participants included the California Highway Patrol, United States Coast Guard, Vallejo Police Department, Vallejo Fire Department, Solano County Sheriff's Department, and the USAF Explosive Ordinance Demolition Team, Travis AFB. Additionally, exercise observers include the FBI and California Military Department.

Cal Maritime Partners With Maritime, Defense, And Homeland Security Organizations

To further demonstrate its commitment to maritime security education, officials from Cal Maritime and leaders from the state's maritime, defense, and homeland security organizations met last November on the Cal Maritime campus to sign an agreement to work together to set statewide standards for homeland security exercises, evaluation, education, and training. This is the first California consortium of its kind geared towards addressing statewide maritime security standards.

The consortium will serve as a forum to ensure that California ports, harbors, and other elements of the maritime transportation system - including railroads, highways, and other facilities and services involved in moving freight to and from our nation's harbors - are afforded the opportunities to train and exercise in order to meet domestic preparedness responsibilities in a manner that will set a national standard for excellence.

In addition to Cal Maritime, charter members include: California Marine and Intermodal Transportation System Advisory Council (CALMITSAC), California Military Department, Governor's Office of Homeland Security (OHS), Irvine Valley College, Joint Interagency Training Center-West (JITC-W), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the US Navy Center for Asymmetric Warfare (CAW).

"We are pleased to partner with such a distinguished group of maritime, defense, and homeland security organizations in California on this important issue," said Bill Eisenhardt, president of Cal Maritime. "As the only degree-granting maritime academy serving the Pacific Rim, we are committed to making all facets of the region's maritime transportation system safer. The safety of our graduates and future graduates depends on it, and we take that very seriously."

The consortium hopes that their work will ultimately be shared with Department of Homeland Security agencies in other states, setting a national precedence for cooperation on homeland security issues.

The mission of the group consists of six primary tenets:

• Encourage cooperation between institutions
• Serve as a forum for information sharing on homeland security issues and develop a consensus for action
• Promote and facilitate standardized maritime transportation system homeland security training and exercises
• Encourage and facilitate maritime transportation system homeland security-related research and development
• Promote, encourage, and deliver appropriate educational courses to improve domestic preparedness awareness and response
• Cooperate with and support United States Department of Homeland Security in other states by providing templates and lessons learned

Maritime security-related activities performed by consortium organizations will include port and harbor exercises, vessel and facility exercises, individual training, seminars and classes, research, symposia, and working with the federal government in a variety of maritime security initiatives.