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Port Security – Project SeaHawk With the war on terrorism and the stronger emphasis on homeland security, it has become widely recognized that the Nation’s seaports are subject to a plethora of threats, including everything from importing weapons and other hazardous substances to importing illegal immigrants, and constitute a major target for terrorist activity. The Charleston Harbor Operations Center (CHOC), better known as Project SeaHawk, was created as a unique, benchmark project to enhance the protection, security, and infrastructure of seaports nationally. Administered by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina, Project SeaHawk is focused on the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, the fourth largest container port on the east coast, and eighth largest in the nation. A recent addition is the capability to provided secure remote access to the SeaHawk Information Sharing Portal and data for remote users, both within the SeaHawk Unified Command and within other ports, the first being Savannah and Brunswick, GA. SeaHawk has created a unified intelligence operations center that includes all federal, state, and local agencies having responsibility for any aspect of port security and protection. A combined task force addresses all areas of security to include screening ships, crews, itineraries and manifests, as well as the physical security aspects of daily port operations. The goal is for the operational task force to evolve systematically into a model that can be replicated at other ports throughout the nation. NLECTC-SE is the technology partner to Project SeaHawk, providing assistance in facility design, requirements gathering, network design, system integration, and technical assistance. The Center has facilitated access to various federal, state, and local information sharing initiatives which provide needed information from a number of sources for intelligent security decision making. The Center gathers requirements, analyzes capabilities of potential IT solutions, and procures systems that meet the needs of the task force. Additionally, the Center serves as the research and development component for SeaHawk identifying, procuring, and testing appropriate camera, sensor and detection technologies that offer solutions that aid in making the ports more secure.
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