Bill Nelson: “the 9/11 Commission Report said: [O]pportunities for terrorists to do us harm are as great-- or greater--in our shipping…”

“the 9/11 Commission Report said: [O]pportunities for terrorists to do us harm are as great-- or greater--in our shipping ports as they are in commercial aviation. We have done a pretty good job in tightening up the security of our airports but not so in our seaports. That is the purpose of this whole bill on port security. A respected policy center that studies terrorism looked at what would happen if a 10-kiloton bomb was detonated in a seaport--in this particular simulation, the Port of Long Beach, CA. They pointed out that 60,000 people would die instantly, and another 150,000 would suffer radiation poisoning, and some 2 to 3 million people would have to be relocated as a result of the contaminated land. Of course, the cost to our Nation's economy would be enormous--about $1 trillion under that scenario. Most experts agree that our ports are not only vulnerable but also the damage resulting from an attack could be catastrophic. Where are most of the ports located? Mostly, they are snuggled up to, close to, a downtown, a highly dense urban community. The State I represent, Florida, is home to 14 deepwater ports, so we have the task we are trying to address in this bill of protecting these ports and protecting the peace and security of our people. The outcome of this fight has very broad implications for our country. All of our Nation's 88 ports that handle cargo containers still remain vulnerable.…”