Port Canaveral ramps up security

Leah Zanolla | Posted: Mar 31, 2008 | Updated: Oct 19, 2014 - 9:25:27 AM

Port Canaveral, the second busiest in Florida, is beefing up security. New measures will be in place according to a Transportation and Security Authority announcement made on Sunday. The increased coverage follows similar action taken at Jacksonville's port.

According to Lee Kair, the TSA security director at Orlando airport, the presence of specialists will be random. "One day we might have on-site an expert on fraudulent documents and another expert on behavior. The next, we might have none or we might have 10 other experts. The idea is to keep things random and unpredictable."

While some of the security experts will be obvious, others will be difficult to spot. Kair stated "You want part of the team to be visible as a deterrent factor, but we will have people working behind the scenes as well."

This is part of the TSA's "visible intermodal prevention" program which was put into place following the 2004 Madrid train bombing. Waterways were recently added as a travel venue

On Sunday, bomb sniffing dogs, the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Air Marshals, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Border Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Brevard County Sheriff's Office were present at the port.

Passengers expressed surprise that this level of security wasn't already in place. Sari Koshetz, a TSA spokeswoman stated that while they are the primary providers of passenger and bag screening at airports, their role at ports is as a "support agency."

Disney, Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines all sail from Port Canaveral.