The hour-and-a-half initial meeting this morning between representatives of
the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Commission (Chair Kellam; Commissioner
Collins; Commissioner Buckle), CBBT Security (Chief Pruitt), CBBT Public
Relations
(Ms. Smith), and five birding/conservation groups (CVWO: Bob Ake; VSO: Teta
Kain; CCB: Mitchell Byrd; VDGIF: David Whitehurst; ABA: myself) went smoothly.
It
was designed as a small meeting purposely, so that everyone would have a
chance to air views and ideas about how birders might continue to enjoy the
privilege of birding the three northern islands but within a new dispensation
that
would satisfy concerns about security. The old method - to present a letter or
fax, with license and registration of the driver only - is clearly off the
table. If a protocol for continued access is possible, it will apparently not
be as flawed, from a security standpoint, as that one.
The bird/conservation group, after listening to the genesis of the decision
to rescind the privilege made last month from Chief Pruitt and Chair Kellam,
presented a page-long list of ideas specifically designed to satisfy concerns
about security but also to continue daily access to the full perimeter of the
islands, such as we enjoy now. Many of these ideas came from contributors via
this listserve (many thanks); others came from highly placed officials in
Homeland Security, the State Department, the private security sector, and the
Transportation Safety Administration (thanks to those people as well). The
Northern Virginia crowd really has an impressive set of connections to such
people,
as well as to state and national political figures and their aids; thanks to
all of you who pulled strings quietly to raise this matter, which Governor
Warner and other key figures are now aware of.
It was heartening that both Commissioner Buckle and Commissioner Collins
asked clear, helpful questions about what specifically we like to do on the
islands and what value it has for us, both as hobbyists and as
conservationists. Dav
id Whitehurst also enlightened them about the ecotouristic context as well.
Both commissioners seemed very much to understand our interests here by the
end of the meeting. In coming weeks, we need to make sure that all other
commissioners do as well.
The meeting concluded at about 11:40, and the next meeting of this group is
set for 21 April.
In the mean time, the CBBT people will be interviewing security people at
other sensitive facilities in Virginia about their procedures for permitting
access. For our part, the bird/conservation people are charged with
presenting,
in advance of the next meeting, a written plan for access, or set of plans,
that we believe would satisfy the imperative of security on the northern three
islands.
We have already made great headway in defining, in general terms, what the
procedures in such a plan might be, with the help in particular of Homeland
Security people, who are most familiar with threat scenarios for the northern
three islands. What we will have to do now is to flesh out our outline with
concrete suggestions: computer software used in identifying people or
maintaining a
database of permitees; hardware/software used in communicating with officers
in the field; search procedures and the equipment and training required for
their implementation; and so forth.
This task will require more discussion with local law enforcement
representatives, military security personnel, and airport security specialists,
who will
have the most up-to-date information on how to administer a program that
oversees access to sensitive areas.
We do not yet see a light at the end of this tunnel, as it were, but we were
given no reason to assume that the CBBT people have ruled out the possibility
of our maintaining some form of access past 1 June 2005 (the official end of
the birding program as of today). The next full Commission meeting is 11 May,
at which time it's expected that there will be a vote on the matter. If
anyone reading this works in the technical end of law enforcement, or is
friendly
with someone who does and who might be willing to advise a group of bird/CBBT
people on both methods and technology, we'd love to hear from them!
Our mood is still optimistic. While I believe that it's possible to craft a
solution we're all happy with, our challenge is to convince Security folks
that it will be both efficient and effective. To that end, I would ask, humbly
and with no authority whatsoever, on the part of the people working on this
problem that we as a birding community refrain from side-conversations with
Security personnel about this matter for the next six weeks or so. This is
simply
so that the people working to formulate a plan for all of us that would permit
the greatest amount of security AND freedom for birding not be undermined.
It is easy in particular for lower-ranking officers to confuse what they hear
from birders on the CBBT with what they're hearing from superiors and around
water coolers, and at this critical time we do not want to send mixed messages.
It's fine to keep birding as we've always done, for now, but it's best not to
try to sell dozens of different versions of access scenarios in an
uncoordinated fashion - this cannot but muddy the waters.
Thanks again to all for helping out. We'll post on this again after the next
meeting.
Best
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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