L.A.'s sea captain: John Holmes, the Coast Guard's local commanding officer for marine safety, has the huge task of making sure local ports are safe amid troubled times. (People).

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. John Holmes, commanding officer of the Marine Safety Office at the L.A.-Long Beach port complex, is fond of reciting the Chinese proverb about living in interesting times--and for good reason. Shortly after he assumed his post in the summer of 2001, Holmes was forced to transform his office from primarily a search-and-rescue operation into a post-Sept. 11 unit that emphasizes passenger and cargo ship security. Then last May, when he issued a bulletin warning the public that terrorists were trying to enter the country as stowaways, Holmes was suspended by his superiors who cited a security breach-even though the bulletin he issued was based on already reported information. Despite an outpouring of support from local business and political leaders, he was not reinstated until a three-month investigation by the FBI was concluded During that time, Holmes was reassigned to the Coast Guard's Pacific Area Command in Alameda where he helped plan the Coast Guard's overall port security.

Question: How has Sept. 11 changed your job?

Answer: The missions are the same but the emphasis on the missions changed dramatically. We have always been principally a search-and-rescue organization but law enforcement and marine safety are also core functions. After 9/11 we went from spending a very small portion of our budget on port security to a very large portion. Initially we went from 3 percent of the budget to 50 percent of the budget. It's now about 35 percent of the budget.

Q: How has the money been allocated?

A: The port security before was harbor patrols and shoreside patrols. Now, it's those things and a great number more patrols and also a bunch of additional programs. We have about 200 personnel in the L.A.-Long Beach port complex and there's about 350 total in the area we cover--Morro Bay down to the San Diego County line. We have a number of new boats built specifically for port security. We have developed a port security boarding program, using Coast Guard personnel and also sea marshals - the equivalent of an air marshal.

Q: Can you discuss the intelligence gathering?

A: We have people who are dedicated to gathering information about the port and feeding that up the line, so to speak. But we also work very aggressively with the other agencies and cooperate with the Joint Terrorist Task Force, which is really ran by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. We work with all the federal and local agencies--customs, DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency), Treasury Department, LAPD, Long Beach PD, L.A. port police.

Q: Most of the government funding and media attention has focused on airport security. How concerned are you that terrorists might target ports?

A: Although there is no specific intelligence that says a port is in danger, we know that infrastructure is always a target. If you damage infrastructure, you damage people's ability to do business. We, particularly in Los Angeles-Long Beach, understand that this port is significant to the infrastructure of this country, as the port closure has proven. So we have to be concerned and prepared for (the fact) that we are a target.

Q: With the West Coast port lockout over, what safety concerns arise from the 200-plus container cargo ships trying to unload cargo?

A: Our principal challenge is traffic management because we don't normally have this many ships in and around the port. We're trying to ensure that the traffic comes in safely and leaves safely. Does it have concerns with respect to security? Anytime you have more ships than normal in a port area, you feel like you're of a higher visibility.

Q: Describe the sea marshal program where ships are met out at sea and escorted into the harbor.

A: There are two things that happen. One is a complete examination. There are times when we put a team of people on the vessel, including customs and immigration people. There are other times where we just go on board the ship and make sure it's able to come in safely. A sea marshal protects the vital areas of the ship against an internal threat, meaning passengers and crew. For instance, if you have a cruise ship with 2,500 people on board, you want to make sure that none of those 2,500 people has any ill intent.

Q: Cargo and passenger examinations don't happen before the ships leave a foreign port?

A: No. That's the sort of thing that people are now taking about--that homeland security doesn't begin at home. If you're really trying to enhance homeland security from the cargo aspect, what you've got to do is go to where the ships leave from. You've got to make sure the cargo is safe and the people running the ship are the right people before the ship leaves.

Q: As far as cargo is concerned, can you inspect every container?

A: The reality is you don't. What you need to do is look at the right things. Customs does a computer and target analysis of what's put on the ships. Most of the containers that come between Asia and Los Angeles are from very well known, respected shippers. Honda--I'm just using them as an example--makes the parts, loads the parts' ships the parts. Is that a container that you really want to look at? Probably not.

Q: How does the Coast Guard play a role in these inspections?

A: If you're talking about a ship inspection, it's the Coast Guard. If you're talking about a personnel thing, you're talking about immigration and if you're talking about a cargo thing, it's customs. And we all work together to make sure that everybody can do their job appropriately.

Q: Have you had any input in the port talks?

A: We thankfully are mandated to stay out of the fray. We don't get involved in anything that involves labor and management. Does it cause challenges for us? Certainly, with respect to traffic management.

Q: So you control where the ships drop anchor?

A: Exactly. And we have a method to our madness. Our vessel traffic system, if you went up there, it would look very much like if you went up the tower at LAX. When a ship comes in, it checks in. Based on the type of ship, they are given a place to anchor and they are monitored all the time they're there. The equipment (in our Coast Guard control room) identifies the anchorages on the radar. If you start to go out of that anchorage, an alarm goes off.

Q: Are you bitter about being suspended from your post?

A: Were I making the decisions, I would have decided the same thing--to look into it. The process worked. In many ways, I was very fortunate because I was given support by the business community and port community.

Q: Coast Guard officials have been complaining that their ships are too old and too slow to catch drug smugglers. What is the condition of the fleet under your jurisdiction?

A: Congress is really addressing that. They've been working on improving infrastructare for a long time. The first piece of the puzzle was the infrastructure near the coast. Our oldest patrol boat in this group is less than 2 years old. We have four. They are spread down the coast(off) Huntington Beach, Marina del Rey, Channel Islands Harbor and Santa Barbara. Since 9/11, we've had a patrol boat 24 hours a day. And we have a lot of new small boats. They just signed a contract to upgrade the search-and-rescue communications infrastructure, which is a multi-million-dollar project. And they started on something they call the Deep Water Program, which is upgrading the big capital assets--the large ships and the aircraft.

RELATED ARTICLE: INTERVIEW

John M. Holmes

Title: Commanding officer, L.A./Long Beach Marine Safety Office

Organization: United States Coast Guard 

Born: St. Paul, Minn., 1952

Education: Bachelor of arts in English and Education, Boston College, 1975; Master's in Business Administration, Washington University, 1998.

Career Turning Point: Choosing Coast Guard over the Navy.

Most Admired Person: Winston Churchill.

Personal: Married, two children