MARSEC (MARitime SECurity) is the three-tiered

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

Maritime Security system (

alert state An alert state or state of alert is an indication of the state of readiness of the armed forces for military action or a state against natural disasters, terrorism or military attack. The term frequently used is "on high alert". Examples scales i ...

) designed to easily communicate to the Coast Guard and the maritime industry pre-planned scalable responses for credible threats. Its objective is to provide an assessment of possible

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

activity within the maritime sectors of transportation, including threats to

nautical Seamanship is the art, knowledge and competence of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea." It involves topics a ...

facilities and vessels falling within the jurisdiction of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that could be targets of attack. The Coast Guard originally created MARSEC to be compatible with, and respond in unison to the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

’s (DHS)

Homeland Security Advisory System In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) was a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale created in March 2002 under the Bush Administration in response to the September 11 attacks. The different levels triggered spe ...

(HSAS). With the introduction of the

National Terrorism Advisory System The National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) is a terrorism threat advisory scale used by the US Department of Homeland Security since April 26, 2011. The NTAS is the replacement for the often-criticized, color-coded Homeland Security Advisor ...

(NTAS) to replace HSAS, the

Commandant of the Coast Guard The commandant of the Coast Guard is the service chief and highest-ranking member of the United States Coast Guard. The commandant is an admiral, appointed for a four-year term by the president of the United States upon confirmation by the Uni ...

will adjust the MARSEC Level, if appropriate, based on any NTAS Alert issued by DHS.

Alert levels

Under the HSAS there were three levels to the system: * Level 1 – Corresponding with the HSAS levels Green, Blue, or Yellow, or no NTAS threat. * Level 2 – Corresponding with the heightened HSAS risk coded Orange, or an elevated NTAS threat. * Level 3 – Corresponding with the probable and imminent HSAS risk level coded Red, or an imminent NTAS threat. The current levels are:

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

also uses MARSEC levels as legislated in the Marine Transportation Security Regulations.

References

External links

U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Levels
United States Coast Guard Disaster preparedness in the United States {{USCG-stub