Coast Guard: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Foreign Port Security Assessment Program
Terrorists and criminals can target the U.S. supply chain through security vulnerabilities in foreign ports. The Coast Guard's International Port Security Program aims to assess and strengthen the security of these ports.
We reviewed the program, which resumed full operations in May 2021 after being impacted by the pandemic. We found that the Coast Guard could:
More consistently assess security in countries that don't allow port visits
Share assessment information with other agencies working on supply chain security
Coordinate with the State Department on strengthening foreign port security
Our recommendations are to address these issues.
What GAO Found
Under its International Port Security Program, the Coast Guard has assessed the security of foreign maritime ports. Since 2014, the Coast Guard generally met its triennial foreign port security assessment requirement before the COVID-19 pandemic led it to suspend its country assessment visits during fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The program resumed its visits in May 2021.
Coast Guard Foreign Port Security Assessments, Fiscal Years 2014 through 2022
The Coast Guard has faced a longstanding challenge in accessing some countries' ports to conduct assessments. In recent years, the service began using alternative approaches—such as using Coast Guard intelligence—to make determinations for some countries it has been unable to visit. However, the program has not consistently done so. By documenting procedures for using alternative approaches, the Coast Guard could better ensure that personnel consistently implement this practice.
The program documents the results of its foreign port assessments in various reports. However, as of September 2022, it had not disseminated its most comprehensive report (known as its annual report) to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agencies that may have a vested interest in receiving it. For example, it had not shared them with CBP, which is required to assess the information in its supply chain security efforts. By sharing its annual reports with CBP and other federal agencies, the Coast Guard could better support its "whole of government” approach for securing the U.S. supply chain.
Like the Coast Guard, the State Department provides capacity building to help its maritime trading partners strengthen their port security. However, the two agencies have not regularly coordinated planning and implementation in these efforts. By establishing a process for doing so, they can better ensure that they are complementing, rather than potentially overlapping, their efforts.
Why GAO Did This Study
The U.S. Coast Guard is a multi-mission maritime military service within the Department of Homeland Security responsible for securing the U.S. maritime transportation system.
The William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 includes a provision for GAO to review the Coast Guard's International Port Security Program. This report addresses, among other things, the extent the Coast Guard: (1) assessed foreign port security from fiscal years 2014 through 2022, and (2) shared its foreign port assessments and coordinated capacity building efforts with relevant federal stakeholders.
GAO reviewed relevant law and federal guidance, analyzed Coast Guard and State Department documentation and data, and interviewed cognizant officials from these agencies and CBP.
Recommendations
GAO is making six recommendations, including that the Coast Guard document its procedures for using alternative approaches to make foreign port security assessment determinations, share its annual assessment reports with CBP and other federal agencies it identifies as having a vested interest, and establish a process with the State Department for coordinating foreign port security capacity building.
The Department of Homeland Security and State Department concurred with the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure the International Port Security Program documents procedures describing when and how it should use alternative approaches to issue a foreign port security assessment determination. (Recommendation 1) |
Coast Guard concurred with the recommendation. Coast Guard indicated that to implement the recommendation, its Office of International and Domestic Port Assessment would promulgate internal procedures documenting when and how the International Port Security Program will use alternative approaches to issue a foreign port security assessment determination. It estimated completion by the end of February 2024. We will review Coast Guard's progress after that time to determine whether its actions are responsive to the recommendation.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure the service disseminates the International Port Security Program's annual foreign port assessment reports to CBP. (Recommendation 2) |
Coast Guard concurred with the recommendation, stating that it would develop an annual report and disseminate it to its partners including CBP. Coast Guard also stated that it would ensure that future issues of the International Port Security Program annual report are provided to CBP. In June 2023, Coast Guard provided a memorandum indicating that it had disseminated the annual report to CBP, among other stakeholders. However, it has not demonstrated how it will ensure that it will continue to disseminate the annual report to CBP in the future. Therefore, Coast Guard has partially implemented the recommendation until it provides evidence of how it will ensure future annual reports are shared with CBP.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure the service determines which federal agencies have a vested interest in receiving the International Port Security Program's annual foreign port security assessment reports and disseminate its reports to them. (Recommendation 3) |
Coast Guard concurred with the recommendation and stated it will determine which federal entities would have a vested interested and ensure it would provide current and future issues of the International Port Security Program annual report. In June 2023, Coast Guard stated that in addition to the current recipients of the annual report, it identified two other federal entities that would benefit from receiving the report: the Maritime Administration and the Global Maritime Operational Threat Response Coordination Center. As soon as Coast Guard provides evidence that it provided the annual report to these entities, then the service will have implemented the recommendation.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure the International Port Security Program establishes a process with cognizant Department of State offices to coordinate planning on foreign maritime port security capacity building. (Recommendation 4) |
Coast Guard concurred with the recommendation and stated that it would coordinate with the State Department Economic Bureau to establish a port security community of interest. Within the community of Interest, Coast Guard stated that agencies with port security interests would coordinate capacity building planning and activities. It estimated the completion date of this activity to be August 2024. We will follow up with Coast Guard at that time to determine whether its activities meet the spirit of the recommendation.
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| Department of State | The Secretary of State should ensure its cognizant offices establish a process to coordinate planning with each other and with the Coast Guard International Port Security Program to implement maritime port security related capacity building. (Recommendation 5) |
The State Department concurred with the recommendation and stated that it will work to further routinize its collaboration with Coast Guard to consider its expertise related to the Bureau of Counterterrorism-funded capacity building.
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| United States Coast Guard | The Commandant of the Coast Guard should ensure the International Port Security Program incorporates performance measures that fully address the program's two key objectives of meeting its triennial assessment mandate and assessing risk to maritime security by assessing security at all visited ports. (Recommendation 6) |
Coast Guard concurred with the recommendation and stated that it will develop appropriate internal performance measures. Coast Guard indicated that it will develop performance measures as it implements a new information system to collect information on the program. It plans to have completed performance measures by July 2024. At that time, we will review Coast Guard information to determine whether the service's efforts are responsive to the recommendation.
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