Security attains ‘steady state’ in 14 years after 9/11 tragedy

Maritime security has reached “a steady state of new normal” in the 14 years following the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, according to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey executive who at that time headed the agency’s port security efforts. “I think, 14 years later, we’re in a steady state of new normal,” Bethann Rooney, the Port of New York & New Jersey’s assistant director for port performance, who in 2001 was the authority’s general manager of port security, told the American Journal of Transportation. This Sept. 11, the Port Authority, as it has in prior years, held a memorial service marking the 14-year anniversary of deaths including 37 Port Authority police officers and 47 civilian employees working at the agency’s trade center headquarters. “Certainly, within the security environment post-9/11, there were many years that we were in a state of evolution and trying to understand maritime security, both on the waterways, the vessels, the facilities and cargo or supply chain security itself,” Rooney said. “There’ve been a whole host of new regulations and programs and agencies and organizations and initiatives, but where we are today, I think, is a steady state,” she continued. “Security is no longer an afterthought. It is no longer, I think, a burden. It is just part of our everyday business. Rooney drew a maritime industry parallel to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, commenting, “When the Exxon Valdez first happened and we looked at the implications of OPA 90, it was, y’know, ‘Oh my God, how are we ever going to do this, and how are we ever going to handle this.’ Nobody thinks about OPA 90 today. “In the same way,” she said, “security has become part of our new normal, and it’s not as difficult and challenging as it was in 2001.”