Area Maritime Security Committee Vacancies

In Wednesday’s Federal Register the Coast Guard published a notice soliciting members for a number of Area Maritime Security Committees (AMSC). The notice provides a list of 40 Captain’s of the Port that have vacancies on their local AMSC and points of contacts for applications. The list includes well known ports like Savannah, GA and Boston, MA, but also areas of inland waterways such as the Upper Mississippi. The notice states that: “The AMSCs shall assist the Captain of the Port in the development, review, update, and exercising of the Area Maritime Security (AMS) Plan for their area of responsibility.” Applicants should have 5 years experience “related to maritime or port security operations” and must pass a background investigation. This blog might seem to be a strange place to address maritime security issues, but there are a large number of chemical facilities that exist in Maritime Security Areas. I think that it is probably appropriate that they are properly represented on these AMSCs. These chemical facilities have a unique perspective on port security that could provide the Captain’s of the Port valuable insights into those security issues.