Since having been appointed to the Conference Committee that oversees the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in 2009, Congresswoman Laura Richardson has claimed she is dedicated to expanding the Port’s safety via regulating how it functions within the rules of the Department of Defense (DoD).
In nuce, the NDAA specifies the annual budget and expenditures of the DoD, with each year including provisions tacked on. Readers may recall the controversy over the FY2012 NDAA, signed in December of last year by President Barrack Obama, in which a provision was added that included a murky definition of indefinite detention that many feel could apply to American citizens on American soil. The FY2011 NDAA saw the expansion of Tricare, the military personell healthcare program. The FY2010 NDAA expanded the federal definitions of hate crimes. In other words, the impact of the NDAA is far reaching and shows the massive breadth of which the DoD operates.
In 2010, Richardson requested that a provision be inserted directing the DoD to expand and update the scope of the Port Look 2008 Strategic Support Study to include consideration of the infrastructure beyond the facilities inside the port that are already covered and evaluate the vicinity surrounding strategic ports, including bridges, roads, and rail capacity. There are 14 strategic ports in the U.S., including Long Beach, designated as such because of their overwhelming critical link to logistics transfers for our military operations.
The Port Look 2008 Strategic Seaport Study was adopted to develop and implement a plan to optimize the use of strategic seaports. Specifically, the study addressed cost effectiveness, manning requirements, and location and maximization of utilization of resources for each strategic port.
The bipartisan amendment to the NDAA of FY2013 offered jointly by Congresswoman Richardson and Congressman Don Young strengthens the law by expediting the results of the report and ask the Comptroller General of the United States to review the extent to which the facilities at strategic seaports meet the DoD’s requirements.
In addition to assessing the impact on operational readiness if the improvements are not undertaken, this report will identify potential funding sources for the needed improvements from existing authorities.