Maritime Security: Vessel Tracking Systems Provide Key Information, but the Need for Duplicate Data Should Be Reviewed

U.S. ports, waterways, and coastal approaches are part of a system handling more than 700 billion in merchandise annually. With the many possible threats -- including transportation and detonation of weapons of mass destruction, suicide attacks against vessels, and others -- in the maritime domain, awareness of such threats could give the Coast Guard advance notice to help detect, deter, interdict, and defeat them and protect the U.S. homeland and economy. GAO was asked to review the Coast Guards efforts to achieve awareness about activity in the maritime domain. This report addresses the extent to which the Coast Guard has done the following 1 put vessel tracking systems in place, 2 used these systems to track vessels that may be threats, and 3 coordinated the development and implementation of these systems. To answer these questions, GAO analyzed relevant statutes, regulations, and plans for vessel tracking systems, compared the roles of the planned systems, and interviewed appropriate officials. To ensure efficient use of resources, GAO recommends that the Commandant of the Coast Guard determine the extent to which duplicate vessel tracking information from the long-range identification and tracking system LRIT and the commercially provided long-range automatic identification system AIS is needed to accomplish Coast Guard missions, particularly in light of information already available through national technical means. DHS agreed with this recommendation.