Administration undermining port security, says Senator. (Security Beat).

The Bush administration's commitment to domestic port security disappointing, according to Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C. He recently requested that the General Accounting Office investigate current port security efforts.

Despite requests for additional funding for the Coast Guard, the administration has failed to propose any "serious level of funding to implement the necessary port security mandates," Hollings wrote in a letter to President Bush.

The president's proposal does not address budget shortfalls in customs-related law enforcement activities and Transportation Security Administration port operations.

Hollings said the TSA is planning to cover its cost overruns in aviation security by transferring $105 million that Congress dedicated for port security grants and $28 million in funds for cargo security programs.

"The economic disruption caused by a terrorist attack on our ports would be catastrophic, and currently, we have no reliable process in place to re-secure the system and reopen ports without jeopardizing the security of millions of Americans," he said in the letter.

Hollings will work with the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure that no money will be transferred out of any port security programs and that the administration pays our the money necessary to create a sound port security system," he said.

Hollings noted that the administration is willing to spend $8 billion annually on missile-defense programs. "Yet, ironically, we spend comparatively little to stop a similar weapon of mass destruction delivered simply and clandestinely through one of the six to eight billion marine containers imported into the country each year. ... It makes no sense at all."