Piracy

It's certainly not a new problem for those of us who've worked in the industry, but it has been getting alot of attention as of late. NMSAC has not been tasked to discuss or provide guidance on the piracy issues, and quite frankly, it's not a domestic security issue. But for those of you who are interested, a reall great place to start is The International Maritme Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre.

Also of note, today the Department of State, on their DIPNOTE blog, opened up a discussion on piracy, you can check it out here.

And last, but certainly not least, I'd be remiss if I didn't point you to ADM Allen's blog, iCommandant to get the Coast Guard Leadership point of view.

So, what are your thoughts on dealing with the Piracy issue?

TWIC Reader Requirement ANPRM

Today an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that discusses the Coast Guard's preliminary proposals on potential requirements for owners and operators of certain vessels and facilities regulated by the Coast Guard to use electronic readers designed to work with Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) cards as an access control measure will be available for public inspection at the Federal Register website, http://www.regulations.gov.

The ANPRM will publish tomorrow, 27 March 2009. The advance notice is a step toward full implementation of the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 transportation security card requirement as well as requirements of the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 for regulations on electronic readers designed for use with TWICs. The Coast Guard intends to hold one public meeting in the Washington, D.C. region during the ANPRM comment period and the date and details will bepublished in the Federal Register as soon as they are confirmed (we'll post them on this blog, too).

The Coast Guard encourages the public to participate in this rulemaking by submitting comments and related materials to the docket at http://www.regulations.gov, docket number: USCG-2007-28915. All comments received will be posted without change. Please do not provide comments on the ANPRM on this blog.

NMSAC Web 2.0 presence mentioned

Thanks to our friend, Mr. Dennis Bryant, who posted a blurb on his new blog about the NMSAC presence on Facebook, LinkedIn as well as this blog.

For those of you who used to get his daily emails from Knight and Holland (which he stopped doing just recently), he's now putting out the same info on his blog. Check him out.

Next NMSAC meeting has been postponed

As a result of some scheduling conflicts, we will be postponing the March 16 NMSAC meeting until a later date (probably some time in April).

We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Commndant's State of The Cost Guard Address

For your review and comment:

The Commandant will now take your questions...

From iCommandant, ADM Allen is looking for questions from the industry about Coast Guard-wide issues. Just post a comment to his blog.

Next Public Meeting March 16

The next public meeting for NMSAC has been set for March 16 at 11:00 am (Eastern)

In our next meeting, we'll be discussing the following:


(1) Update on Transportation Workers Identification Credential
(2) Update on Seafarers’ Access to Shore leave
(3) Discussion of USCG 5 year review of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code.
(4) Briefing and discussion on the Maritime Security Risk Analysis Model (MSRAM)
(5) Discussion of Tiering Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) regulated facilities
Procedural

This meeting is open to the public and will be conducted via an online meeting format. If you would like to participate in this meeting, please log onto https://fedgov.webex.com/fedgov/j.php?ED=87589682&RG=1&UID=0 and follow the online instructions to register for this meeting.

If you would like to make an oral presentation at a meeting, please notify me (ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil) no later than Monday, March 9. Written material for distribution at a meeting should reach the Coast Guard no later than Monday, March 9.