In recent news of interest to Lake Ontario boaters, the Bush administration is attempting to enlist the 80 million boaters it says use America’s 95,000 miles of waterways each year as potential eyes and ears in the fight against terrorism. According to a report by the Associated Press, the government believes small boats remain the most likely weapon al-Qaida might employ during an attack in a maritime environment.

While seeming to lament the fact that small boats exist by the million and are not nationally regulated, the Bush administration is considering creating a federal licensing program that would change all that. Coast Guard and Homeland Security representatives have toured the country over the past year, testing the waters to see how much resistance such a program would encounter.

The latest step toward regulation, effective April 28, asks states to develop safety standards for recreational boaters, and once again asks boaters to look for and report suspicious behavior on the water (the Coast Guard has had it's "waterways watch" program going four years now). Of course, no state is likely to implement such a plan. It would first need to establish a regulatory infrastructure (read expensive) which in a weak economy simply doesn't seem likely to happen. This would open the door to a federal program. The spin the administration is trying to give this thinly disguised first step toward federal regulation is that it would be much like a neighborhood watch program.

According to the government’s long range plan, the strategy is to create a layered defense based on radiological and nuclear detection equipment deployed with harbor patrols and police departments, and in addition to the above “suspicious behavior watch,” would include national federal standards to operate a small boat. The Coast Guard will be detailed to work with states in establishing minimum safety standards and to enforce the new laws. This could include requiring boat operators to have a current safety certificate on board with them, and a piece of identification that links to the certificate.

Among the suspicious behaviors detailed are boaters taking photos of a bridge or measurements of a dam, a boat lingering near a piece of critical infrastructure, people who seem strangely unfamiliar with boats, any person or watercraft that appears to be loitering or has no specific reason to be in the area, unattended vessels in odd locations, unusual night operations, lights flashing between boats, or anyone recovering or tossing items into waterways or onto shorelines.

Hey, I just realized the suspicious actor is me. In the last year, I have committed most of the above suspicious acts.

Combined with the other measures implemented by the Department of Homeland Security; the hostile new attitude of the Coast Guard, the fencing in of government structures and facilities, this new program has further ominous overtones. It sure feels like in the name of “security,” big brother is standing a lot closer to our backs than ever before. Almost close enough to reach around and eat our lunch for us. And you know what? If we let him know he can, he’s almost certain to go ahead and eat.