One of the more important jobs in the defense of the United States is the job of port security. Since the incident of 9/11 we have had a much more watchful physical presence at the ports all around the country, especially ports with a lot of incoming and outgoing cargo. In addition to local state officials and the U.S. Customs Inspection service, one of the arms of the Federal Government involved with Cargo and Ship inspection is the United States Coast Guard Port Inspection service, part of the overall Coast Guard.
A person who wants to be a port security Officer will receive special training in law enforcement, general security issues, and defensive combat in addition to learning what to look for and watch out for in cargo and ship inspection. You will receive both field training and classroom training to learn how to provide effective operational security and professional port security presence. Intelligence of all kinds is required to perform the port security role correctly, and you will be required to work at a Port as part of a communications and Port inspection security team. You will work as partners with other shore side and water side port security inspectors and security officials.
Part of what you will have to handle will be threat assessment and risk assessment, in addition to the inspection and evaluation of ships that come into the port where you are stationed. You will be required to participate in various kinds of ship inspections, evaluations, and learning to find where the cargo and ship inspection responsibilities lay. You may be part of a standard shoreside Coast Guard Facility located on shore in the United States. Or, you could be detached and serve overseas as part of an International DoD Inspection and Mobile Marine Support Inspection Detachment, either stateside or overseas, or as a member of a Safety Marine Unit.
You may be assigned to be part of a Safety and Marine Security Team that performs waterside inspection and shore side, dockside, and mobile inspections to defend and support the efforts to safeguard our ports. You will likely participate in different Homeland Security Training exercises, and learn how to deal with implied and actual threats to your homeport.