Maritime Security: Progress Made, but Further Actions Needed to Secure the Maritime Energy Supply
Highlights
The nation's economy and security are heavily dependent on oil, natural gas, and other energy commodities. Al-Qa'ida and other groups with malevolent intent have targeted energy tankers and offshore energy infrastructure because of their importance to the nation's economy and national security. The U.S. Coast Guard--a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)--is the lead federal agency for maritime security, including the security of energy tankers and offshore energy infrastructure. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also has responsibilities for preventing and responding to terrorist incidents. This testimony discusses the extent to which (1) the Coast Guard and the FBI have taken actions to address GAO's prior recommendations to prevent and respond to a terrorist incident involving energy tankers and (2) the Coast Guard has taken actions to assess the security risks to offshore energy infrastructure and related challenges. This testimony is based on products issued from December 2007 through March 2011 and recently completed work on the Coast Guard's actions to assess security risks. GAO reviewed documents from the Coast Guard's risk model and relevant laws, regulations, policies, and procedures; and interviewed Coast Guard officials.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Coast Guard | To strengthen the Coast Guard's efforts to assess security risks and ensure the security of OCS facilities, the Commandant of the Coast Guard should revise policies and procedures to ensure that MSRAM analysts receive the annual updated list of securityregulated OCS facilities to ensure that risk assessments have been conducted on all such OCS facilities. |
In response to GAO's testimony statement, in December 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that Coast Guard personnel were coordinating their efforts to ensure that MSRAM analysts had the most up-to-date list of security-regulated OCS facilities. In December 2013, the Coast Guard provided GAO its list of security-regulated OCS facilities and corresponding MSRAM data. We confirmed that all security-regulated OCS facilities had been assessed in MSRAM. According to a statement from Coast Guard officials in November 2013, officials in the Eighth Coast Guard District--which has jurisdiction over OCS facilities in the Gulf of Mexico--coordinate annually to ensure that risk assessments have been conducted on OCS facilities. Specifically, the Prevention and Planning offices both oversee the list of security-regulated OCS facilities, and the Planning office maintains MSRAM data for these facilities. These two offices coordinate to ensure that MSRAM risk assessments are conducted. Coast Guard officials explained that this approach is consistent with the Marine Safety Manual chapter regarding the use of MSRAM, which states that "Commands are encouraged to use the subject matter experts, including Prevention, Response, Planning, and Command Center personnel, to evaluate the components of risk." These actions are consistent with the intent of the recommendation.
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