Barbara Lee Lauds DHS Decision to Prioritize Bay Area Port Security
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) welcomed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement that it would make the Port of Oakland and other Bay Area ports a top tier priority for port security funding, saying the move was “a step in the right direction” after the agency failed to provide any port security funds for Oakland or San Francisco last year.
“Less than three months ago, we called on the Department of Homeland Security to fundamentally change the way port security funds are allocated, after last year's inexplicable decision to deny all port security funding to the Port of Oakland. Today's announcement that DHS will prioritize the Port of Oakland and other Bay Area ports is a strong indication that our message got through, and there will be no repeat of last year's funding failure,” said Lee. “As part of our commitment to the American people, this year Democrats will make sure that Congress provides the necessary funding to address the security needs of the Port of Oakland and all ports around the country.”
In late October after meeting with DHS and port officials, Lee, along with other members of the Bay Area Congressional delegation, wrote to DHS Secretary, Michael Chertoff, expressing their concern about the lack of federal funding for port security for the Bay Area and specifically calling into question the process by which DHS came to rank the Port of Oakland in the lowest funding category, forcing it to compete with 77 other facilities for approximately 15 percent of the available port security funds.
Specifically, DHS will elevate the Ports of Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco and Stockton to Tier 1 eligibility for future Port Security Grants under the Infrastructure Protection Program, which means they will be eligible to compete for up to $11,201,793 in federal port security funds. Last year, Richmond received $1.8 million dollars and other Bay Area ports received nothing.
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