Elite Security Unit to be Transferred Out of New York Harbor

The sight of Coast Guard boats with guns mounted on their decks might have added to post-9/11 trauma, but after a while New Yorkers got used to seeing the armed, orange-hulled vessels patrolling New York Harbor. Part of a nationwide anti-terrorism program created by the Dept. of Homeland Security after 9/11, the boats, known as the Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST), guard seaports and waterways around the country.

In a consolidation of the MSST program proposed by the Obama Administration recently, New York's MSST would be transferred to Boston Harbor. New Yorkers are protesting, saying the move would leave the metropolitan area vulnerable to attack.

Congressman Michael McMahon calls the MSST "a critical component of the security of New York Harbor." He and other members of New York's Congressional delegation wrote to Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security, urging her to "abandon this misguided and ill-conceived proposal to transfer the New York based MSST to Boston."

Adding his voice to the protest, Senator Charles Schumer was concerned "that it would take too long to deploy an MSST team from Boston in cases of extreme threat, disaster or attack."

Community Board 1, representing those who live and work in Lower Manhattan, is preparing a resolution urging that the MSST remain in New York. "If cuts must be enacted," part of the draft resolution states, "the consolidated Maritime Safety and Security Team should be stationed in New York Harbor instead of Boston Harbor."

Capt. Ron LaBrec, spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard, sent WaterWire a statement from Washington, DC headquarters. "The FY11 budget that includes decommissioning five of these teams proposes necessary trade-offs, including a decrease in patrol hours of Coast Guard MSSTs nationwide," he wrote, "to fund the necessary replacement of aging, and increasingly dangerous and obsolete Coast Guard vessels, aircraft and infrastructure."

"Marine Safety and Security Teams will continue to support New York Fleet Week, the United Nations General Assembly, First Night and other events," he added. "The MSST in Boston will be used regionally to provide added security in New York when needed."