Blackdog Reviews...
Maritime Security (Hardcover)
by Michael McNicholas
ISBN-10: 0123708591
ISBN-13: 978-0123708595
From Amazon.com
The commercial maritime sector has emerged as a highly
vulnerable and probable target for a major terrorist attack. The solution to
this threat lies not in trying to address it at the final links in the cargo
supply chain, but to apply lessons learned in another arena-the struggle to curb
drug smuggling. From this effort we have learned that successes can be achieved
when effective and comprehensive security measures and procedures were
implemented at key initial links in the cargo supply chain, and when focus was
placed at the first primary choke point the load seaports and their ships.
This book provides practical, experience-based, and proven knowledge - and a
how-to-guide - on maritime security. McNicholas explains in clear language how
commercial seaports and vessels function; what the multiple existing threats
are; what the security policies, procedures, systems, and measures that may be
implemented to mitigate these threats are; and how to conduct ship and port
security assessments and plans. Whether the problem is weapons of mass
destruction or cargo theft, Maritime Security provides invaluable unique
guidance for the professionals who protect our shipping and ports.
About the author: Mr. McNicholas is the Managing
Director of Phoenix Management Services Group in the USA, Panama, and Costa
Rica, Operations Support Services (Panama), and Pathfinder Consulting, LLC in
the USA. Michael has over fourteen years of distinguished and progressive Law
Enforcement, Military, and Intelligence experience and, most recently, twenty
years as Founder/Co-Founder of several successful professional security services
corporations in Latin America and the USA. A former Non-Commissioned and
Commissioned Officer (Direct Presidential Appointment) in the US Army, Mr.
McNicholas served for nine years in Airborne Infantry, Military Police, and
Military Intelligence units. Mr. McNicholas held a TOP SECRET security clearance
in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where he specialized in
counter-narcotics trafficking and international terrorism and served on the Vice
Presidents Narcotics Interdiction Task Force and as the CIA Liaison to US Coast
Guard Intelligence. Michael designed, implemented, and managed the
internationally-acclaimed seaport security program at Manzanillo International
Terminal Panama, the largest container port in Latin America. In 2003, he
spearheaded the successful efforts to have Phoenix Management Services Group
designated as the first Recognized Security Organization (RSO) by the Republic
of Panama and the Dominican Republic. On behalf of the government of Panama,
Phoenix evaluated and approved/rejected Ship Security Plans for over 2,500 ships
in the Panama Registry. In the Dominican Republic, Phoenix conducted Port
Facility Security Assessments and wrote the Port Facility Security Plans for two
of the primary ports in the country. Mr. McNicholas is credited with
co-pioneering the Maritime Security Team (Anti-piracy/stowaway/drug
trafficking/terrorist) concept in commercial cargo shipping and has Maritime
Security Teams deployed onboard container and cargo ships in the Caribbean Sea
and Pacific Ocean. Mr. McNicholas and his staff have conducted security surveys
and training in every major seaport in Latin America and the Caribbean and has
been a Sole Source Contractor for a US Intelligence agency. In mid 2001, Mr.
McNicholas was contracted by RAND Corporation, under funding by the Defense
Intelligence Agency and the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, to provide an intelligence
analysis of the origins and routes of arms procured by Colombian Guerrilla,
Para-Military, and terrorist groups. From 2002-2004, Mr. McNicholas served as a
Special Advisor to the Congress of the Republic of Panama for Counter-Narcotics,
Terrorism, and Intelligence issues and on several occasions has briefed the
current President of Panama on national security issues. Mr. McNicholas has
conducted numerous briefings to senior intelligence officers and analysts at the
US Defense Intelligence Agency and Pentagon and more recently the Department of
Homeland Security on Narcotics Trafficking in Latin America, Islamic Terrorist
activities in Latin America, and Maritime Security Issues. Mr. McNicholas is the
author of Chapter 13 (Port Security) of the book entitled Port Engineering:
Planning, Construction, Maintenance, and Security (Tsinker, Gregory, 2004, Wiley
and Sons, Inc.,).
472 pages
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann (December 21, 2007)
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