Danger Abides at L.A.'s Ports

In the five years since the attacks of Sept. 11, the vast ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have been included on most lists of likely terrorist targets.

California's attorney general ranks them third and sixth respectively on a roster of 624 possible targets in the state.

And despite millions of dollars spent bolstering security in the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor complex since Sept. 11, maritime security experts, government officials and shipping industry leaders say the security risks are still huge.

Tightening port security, they say, has proved complicated. Not only have costs been daunting, shippers have been extremely wary of anti-terrorist measures that would slow port operations.

As a result, significant improvements are still needed to prevent worst-case scenarios from becoming reality in the nation's largest seaport.

"In terms of maritime security, have people done things? Yes," said retired Coast Guard Cmdr. Stephen E. Flynn, a consultant and expert on port security. "But are we keeping pace with terrorists' capabilities and the potential consequences five years after 9/11? The answer is no."

The problem is partly one of scope. Together, the ports handle more than 40% of containerized cargo shipped to and from the United States. Adjacent refineries fed by marine oil terminals produce a quarter of the gasoline and other petroleum products consumed west of the Rocky Mountains. Almost a million people live in cities immediately surrounding the harbor area.

If terrorists were to explode a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb in the Port of Long Beach, Rand Corp. researchers recently calculated, it could kill 60,000 people instantly, expose 150,000 more to hazardous levels of radiation and result in more than $1 trillion in economic losses, at least 10 times the financial loss in the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center five years ago.

A key vulnerability, Flynn and others say, remains the ubiquitous cargo container, the mainstay of international commerce and a potential Trojan horse in the age of terrorism.

There are concerns that too few containers are inspected, both in the U.S. and at foreign ports where they are loaded.

Federal studies show that radiation detectors used to scan containers on the docks have limited effectiveness and that evacuation and recovery plans for both ports are not fully developed.