Written by Geoff White

The Office of Port and Facility Compliance is pleased to announce that all 43 Area Maritime Security Plans, or AMSPs, have been updated by the Captains of the Ports, and approved by the Coast Guard Area Commanders. This year long update process has involved substantial effort by both Captain of the Port staff and members of their respective Area Maritime Security Committees.

An AMS Committee is established for each Captain of the Port zone and consists of membership from government, maritime industry, law enforcement, security agencies and other segments of the public who share an interest in the security of an area. AMS Committees work to identify critical port infrastructure and operations, identify risks, develop mitigation strategies, continually evaluate overall port security and assist the Captain of the Port in developing the Area Maritime Security Plan.

“Area Maritime Security Committees are essential to the security of our ports. All of these folks collectively come together to assess security and risks to a port area and work to improve the resiliency and security in the port,” said Capt. Andrew Tucci, chief of the Office of Port and Facility Compliance.

This cycle’s AMSPs incorporated updated guidance regarding port wide Area Maritime Security Assessments, replacing the Homeland Security Alert System with the National Terrorism Advisory System, 2010 Coast Guard Authorization Act requirements and the latest changes to the Coast Guard organization structure.

Also, the Marine Transportation System Recovery Plan template guidance was updated to reflect the maturation of the Coast Guard’s Marine Transportation System Recovery program through both an update to the MTS Recovery Commandant Instruction, as well as lessons learned from real world MTS recovery events such has high/low water on the Mississippi river system and super-storm Sandy.

The 2014 Area Maritime Security Plans also begin to address the emerging cybersecurity threat. Captains of the Ports were tasked with identifying three means of communicating with their port stakeholders in a cyber degraded environment. Enclosure 4 to NVIC 09-02, Change 4, included a recommendation to consider cybersecurity as a potential exercise topic under the Information Security requirement of the Area Maritime Security Training and Exercise Program.

If you are interested in participating in an AMS Committee, contact your Captain of the Port. You can find contact numbers on the Sector Map in Homeport.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.