Security to support commerce at the Port of Los Angeles.

Heard a great piece on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday on the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The piece highlights a key vulnerability of the U.S. -- the risk that one of the nearly 12 million cargo containers that enters the U.S. every year might contain a weapon of mass destruction. The reason this is such a big deal is that the easy movement of goods around the world by container is arguably one of the key pillars that makes the global economy grow.

Full disclosure: I work for a large importer and am responsible for supply chain security, so am neck deep in this issue. I also know one of the commentators personally -- Stephen Flynn wrote both "America the Vulnerable" and "The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation" and is looked upon as an expert on supply chain and homeland security.

Flynn and Port Director John Holmes hit two key points during this presentation:

1. Securing the nation's economic viability is not just about securing our ports -- as Dr. Flynn says, the ports are really the last line of defense. Ports are merely a throughpoint for global supply chains, so in order to secure the country you really have to take a look at the entire system back to the point of origin, understand the different players and stakeholders, as well as the process.
2. As John Holmes indicates, security efforts taken by the port are really about "resiliency" as much as anything. At some point, the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are going to get hit by either an act of God (Earthquake? Storm?) or an act of man (Terrorism? Longshoreman's strike?) that will slow down or shut down their operations. The key to maintaining their, and the country's, economic viability, will be how fast they can rebound from this kind of low probability/high impact disruption.
   

But who owns the supply chain? Governments? Not really. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for facilitating trade and ensuring that contraband cargo doesn't enter the U.S. Importers? Sort of. Supply chains operate at their behest, but goods are moved by entities that importers sometimes have limited visibility into. The bottom line is that the only way to address this kind of vulnerability is through the cooperation of business and government -- a public private partnership to protect the interests of all stakeholders. More on that next time...