WASHINGTON--The U.S. Homeland Security Department has begun a pilot program to combat the threat of a small-vessel attack on the nation's ports, according to an article by Global Security.

DHS's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office has launched the West Coast Maritime Pilot effort, based in San Diego and Washington state's Puget Sound region. The program will deploy and evaluate radiation and nuclear detection equipment, to include human-portable and mobile, or boat-mounted, systems, Chris Inman, the detection office director for San Diego, told the publication. Program officials will develop a regional maritime concept of operations and provide naval-specific training on nuclear detection equipment, he said.

National concern about the threats posed by small naval vessels appears to be on the rise.

Bethann Rooney, manager of port security for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, sees a small-vessel attack as the greatest security risk facing the nation's ports today, according to the article.

"For us, we've essentially got a single choke point that all deep draft vessels need to pass," she said during a July 10 panel discussion at the Center for National Policy. "If that choke point is compromised by a small vessel attack ... it will essentially shut down the entire port of New York and New Jersey."

Rooney said even attacks of limited size can have serious consequences. She advocated that homeland security officials "move from strategies that have been written on a piece of paper and begin to implement the strategies we've identified, in this case to deal with the small-vessel security threat."