Western New York's boaters are on front line against terror threats
Imagine a small boat ferrying a bomb crosses the Niagara River and docking at one of Western New York’s many marinas, where the bomb explodes.
That might sound like a farfetched scene from an action movie, but a recent federal intelligence assessment indicates al-Qaida’s “weapon of choice” would be a bomb-laden small boat to disrupt U. S. maritime activity.
Major ports on the East and West coasts might seem more likely targets because of the vast amounts of commerce that pass through them, but inland waterways also are on the government’s radar screen.
“We are concerned about the Great Lakes due to their major support of marine transportation to the industrialized centers of the United States,” said Bob Gauvin, an adviser with the Coast Guard.
So what preventive steps can be taken?
Build a wall along the region’s beautiful shorelines, similar to the fences along the Southwest border? Station military encampments at the water’s edge?
No one’s suggesting that, but federal officials do envision a floating neighborhood watch program relying on the country’s millions of boaters to act as the eyes and ears of law enforcement.
Federal officials report 5.5 million registered recreational boats on the Great Lakes alone.
“We are aware that 99.9 percent of small boaters are honest, good citizens of the United States and Canada,” Gauvin said of the help they can provide.
But he and others point out that terrorists can raise havoc with only one successful operation.
“Our job is to find the one risk in lakes full of millions of boaters and small vessels,” Gauvin said.
According to the intelligence report, the lure of turning a small boat into a floating bomb is high because it is inexpensive and already has proven an effective weapon elsewhere in the world for al-Qaida.
While the Buffalo Niagara region might seem insulated and an unlikely area for terrorists to strike, it has a number of high value targets — several international bridges that make it the second-busiest crossing on the northern border, manufacturing plants along the waterways and, in Lewiston, the Niagara Power Project, the nation’s second-largest hydropower plant.
In an unsettling development, Canadian leaders recently acknowledged doing a poor job keeping track of illegal immigrants who have been ordered deported from their country. At last count, the whereabouts of 41,000 such people were unknown.
But even with all the risk factors, top U. S. military and Homeland Security officials say they have no credible evidence that this type of small boat attack is imminent.
“We don’t view it [Lake Erie] as an area of high threat, based on all of our sources, but if our sensors detect change, it will be addressed,” said Adm. Jonathan
W. Greenert, commander of the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va. “The defense departments in both countries are sharing more information, and it’s unprecedented.”
During a recent visit to Buffalo, the admiral said networking and weaving together assets to protect the border are part of a strategy that creates “maritime domain awareness.”
Improved awareness
Signs that the level of awareness is increasing can be seen along a section of the Lower Niagara River, once viewed as a weak link in the region’s border security because of human smuggling across the river from Canada.
Border Patrol vehicles make the rounds at boat ramps, fishing docks and roads leading to them. In the air, Homeland Security helicopters are a common sight, and the Coast Guard has regular boat patrols. Surveillance cameras towering above shoreline trees scan the river constantly.
“There are so many patrol boats going up and down the river here, and there’s helicopters flying all the time,” said Bruce Lort, manager of Youngstown Yacht Club Marina.
He said he also sees the Canadian Coast Guard patrolling its side of the river.
But Lort acknowledges a risk, saying, “Just because the patrols are there, it doesn’t mean a small boat can’t slip through.”
A terrorist will pursue the path of “least resistance,” according to U. S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. James Rocco, who works with boaters around the country to promote border safety.
“It’s particularly important for boaters to be especially vigilante in areas where the U. S. is just a couple minutes boat ride away from Canada,” Rocco said.
That kind of proximity is just about everywhere along the major waterways of Buffalo Niagara, including a fishing dock at Joseph Davis State Park in Lewiston, several miles away from the Youngstown Yacht Club Marina.
Sitting in a lawn chair on the dock and enjoying a sweeping view of the Canadian shoreline, Youngstown resident Shawn Ferguson said ongoing security efforts appear to be working.
“I feel pretty comfortable living here. I think it’s secure. In the summer and the winter, you see the Border Patrol vehicles all the time. It’s more about offering a deterence with visible presence,” he said.
Citizen efforts
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, “people are more prone to report things that are suspicious,” said Ferguson, who sometimes canoes on the river,
Of the efforts to organize pleasure boaters into a volunteer force, Buffalo Mayor Byron
W. Brown has written Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff and volunteered the city as a partner with federal officials in establishing a maritime neighborhood watch program.
“We know from a recent Brookings Institution study that the threat from terrorists entering our country from Canada far exceeds the southern border,” Brown wrote.
The city, he added, has had successes in traditional neighborhood watch programs, and “there is no reason why this program cannot be equally successful on our waterways,” serving as a template for the rest of the country.
The Coast Guard’s Rocco also said boaters can consult americaswaterwaywatch. o r g for various security tips.
The state’s Operation Safeguard program also promotes security among small boat operators and at marinas.
“If you see something, say something,” said Dennis J. Michalski, spokesman for the state’s Office of Homeland Security. “Everything begins and ends locally, and we really encourage contacting local law enforcement.”
The state, however, does maintain a terrorism tip line: (866) 723-3697.
