Cal Maritime Security Courses Receive Government Approval.

VALLEJO, Calif. -- The California Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime), a campus of The California State University, today announced that it has received the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration's (MARAD) approval on new security training courses offered through Cal Maritime's Continuing Education Department. Cal Maritime -- which developed the three-day courses for vessel security officers, port facility security officers, and company security officers -- is only the second training organization in the country to be certified by MARAD as meeting the requirements of the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) International Ship and Port Security Code (ISPS).

"The safety and security of the maritime and intermodal infrastructure has never been more important or more at risk, " said Bill Eisenhardt, president of Cal Maritime, who also serves as chair of the Northern California Area Maritime Security Committee Exercise and Training Working Group. "As the only accredited maritime academy on the West Coast, we are committed to making all facets of the region's maritime transportation system safer. We are pleased to receive MARAD certification on our security courses and look forward to offering the security training to industry professionals through our expanding continuing education program."

Cal Maritime's new security courses will be offered through the university's continuing education department beginning this month and will be repeated on a regular basis. In addition to sessions on security assessments and plan development/auditing, the three-day courses also includes sessions on Weapons of Mass Destruction, Hazardous Material Releases, and the Incident Command System (ICS)/ National Incident Management System (NIMS).

The governmental approval of Cal Maritime's security courses is the latest in a number of initiatives the university has undertaken to demonstrate its leadership position in maritime security education. In a first-of-its-kind Bay Area event conducted on Cal Maritime's Training Ship GOLDEN BEAR last fall, Cal Maritime and local, state, and federal law enforcement learned first-hand what would happen if a maritime terrorist event were to happen on a Bay Area waterway. The role-playing exercise -- which involved actors posing as terrorists who attacked Cal Maritime's Training Ship GOLDEN BEAR, and involved students, faculty, staff, and local and statewide law enforcement -- was geared toward helping to determine local and state agencies' and the maritime industrial community's readiness for a maritime terrorist attack.

Also last fall, officials from Cal Maritime and leaders from the state's maritime, defense, and homeland security organizations met on the Cal Maritime campus to sign an agreement to work together to set statewide standards for homeland security exercises, evaluation, education, and training. Named the Consortium for Maritime Security Exercises and Training, the group is the first California consortium to address statewide maritime security standards. The group will serve as a forum to ensure that California ports, harbors, and other elements of the maritime transportation system -- including railroads, highways, and other facilities and services involved in moving freight to and from our nation's harbors -- are afforded the opportunities to train and exercise in order to meet domestic preparedness responsibilities in a manner that will set a national standard for excellence.

For more information on Cal Maritime's new government-approved security training courses, please contact Stacy Shonk at 707-654-1156 or at [e-mail].

About Cal Maritime

Cal Maritime, a campus of The California State University, is one of only seven degree-granting maritime academies in the United States, and the only one on the West Coast. Tucked away in San Pablo Bay's Morrow Cove in Vallejo, Calif., Cal Maritime offers four-year degrees in business administration, facilities engineering technology, global studies and maritime affairs, marine engineering technology, marine transportation, and mechanical engineering, as well as a number of continuing education courses. For more information about Cal Maritime, visit www.csum.edu.