The ‘land of the free’ is too tough on seafarers caught up in Department of Justice probes.
Richard Udell hasn’t shown his face at many shipping conferences the US for a while and probably won’t resurface in a hurry, after the reaction he provoked at the Connecticut Maritime Association Shipping 2010 conference yesterday.
'Offensive', 'infuriating', 'painfull' - just some of the reactions to Mr Udell's comments at CMA yesterday
The Department of Justice senior trial attorney who prosecutes the so-called ‘magic pipe’ cases provoked much anger from delegates when he failed to explain the policy on detaining seafarers while these cases are investigated. He insisted such detentions “protect their rights” – a disingenuous defence of a policy causing much personal anguish for those mariners and their families abroad, who find themselves ‘enjoying’ a prolonged stay courtesy of Uncle Sam and paid for by their unimpressed employers.
On one hand some of these seafarers are possibly witnesses in cases, or end up being defendants. But on the other hand, being holed up in a hotel room — in a region of the country at the DOJ’s choosing – is an incredibly unfair and unjust way to treat somebody supposedly accorded the presumption of innocence. You can only imagine what is going on behind the scenes. Outraged lawyers have recounted stories of crews, their passports seized by US Customs, unable to leave areas, trapped in the US while the wheels of ‘justice’ grind on.
About eight years ago, I remember covering ‘magic pipe’ cases in the US, and the usual practice saw the shipowner usually paid a hefty deposit up front in exchange for allowing the crew to leave. But seafarer rights in the US are abysmal. Many are denied shore leave when they land at the US and are treated as possible terrorists instead of the maritime professionals they are. There are some truly heartbreaking stories behind the headlines about the criminalisation of seafarers.
I ran into Rev William Fensterer in my travels around the exhibitors booths yesterday, from New York’s Seafarers & International House. He told me about the case of a young crew member detained in Greece over a case where drugs were found on board (innocent of course), who has since died upon his release. The cost to crew members’ physical and mental health cannot be overlooked.
Not that Richard Udell appears to care. The DOJ has refused to allow lawyers to move their clients to areas of the US where their quality of life might improve, virtually imprisoning them in hotels in isolated and faraway areas. Is it not more humane to allow them to live in areas where they can have some form of social interaction with the rest of the world? Where is their discretion? If shipowners with a good reputation and longstanding trade connection with the US agree to return seafarers who are witnesses in trials, why can’t they leave? why refuse to allow video evidence?
The senior trial attorney didn’t have any answers yesterday. This arrogant and contemptuous disregard for the industry seems to guarantee that innocent seafarers will continue to be needlessly caught up in this ‘War on Environmental Crime’, not just the ‘War on Terror’ if their ship calls at a US port.
Thad Allen bequeaths a new tradition
Admiral Thad Allen, the commandant of the US Coast Guard, was made available to the media on the last morning of this year’s CMA conference, ostensibly to talk about the success of the Long Range Identification and Tracking System and provide an update on the Haiti response.
However, this was to be one of Admiral Allen’s last set-piece encounters with the fourth estate, as he approaches retirement on May 25 after completing his four-year term. So assembled reporters mixed bread-and-butter questions equally with those of the valedictory sort.
Admiral Allen fielded the first variety of questions capably, particularly while talking about the federal agency’s budget dilemma. In his State of the Coast Guard address at the National Press Club in Washington last month, he supported the budget cuts imposed on the agency. But this support had a catch.
The Admiral said the USCG was accepting a scaling back of its day-to-day operations only at the price of being allowed to continue overhauling its ageing fleet. Without state-of-the-art equipment, the agency would end up as a “hollow force”, he said.
The speech appeared to have become available in advance to a major national newspaper in the US capital, whose report appeared just before it was delivered. Intentional or not, this apparent “leak” only added to Admiral Allen’s finesse that day.
Lloyd’s List has had a similar experience. In February 2008, Admiral Allen shared with this newspaper the announcements he was going to make about the USCG modernisation in that year’s State of the Coast Guard at the NPC, on condition that they remained embargoed until the morning of the speech.
According to some observers, the modernisation that started on Admiral Allen’s watch is the biggest internal overhaul at the federal agency in half a century.
The fact that such big announcements appeared in newspapers simultaneously with the speeches testifies, perhaps, to Admiral Allen’s “modern” way of functioning. That no one got into trouble for such “mishaps” speaks to his consummate diplomatic skills.
Truly, Admiral Allen is one of the most unconventional commandants to lead the USCG.
These thoughts flashed through the mind as the Admiral in Stamford this week fielded questions about his “legacy”.
Typically, he replied that talk of a “legacy” in only four years is meaningless, in an organisation with a much larger life cycle.
We are inclined to believe this is not so. Admiral Allen came to head the USCG in May 2006 at a time when the agency was riding high, thanks to its rescue efforts in the hurricanes that struck the US Gulf in the summer of 2005. He was the leader of that effort. As the public face of the USCG in the months after the hurricane, he became known for calmly powerful media appearances, which were stacked up against fumbling, bickering or bombastic politicians; or bumbling federal agencies.
Admiral Allen’s work on the agency’s modernisation has been similarly energetic and confident. He may depart claiming the modernisation had germinated as an idea before his arrival, and would have a life of its own after he is gone.
But the incoming commandant, the extremely capable Admiral Robert Papp, indeed has massive boots to fill.