DR. JOHN A. C. CARTNER RESPONDS
Dr. John A. C. Cartner Responds!
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| Mr. John C. W. Bennet | Dr. John A. C. Cartner |
EMAIL RESPONSE:
Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 5:03 PM
FROM: DR. John A. C. Cartner
To: Don Hamrick; John C. W. Bennett – Maritime Protective Services, Inc.
Cc: Admiral Robert Papp – COMMANDANT – USCG; Rear-Admiral Paul Zukunft – USCG; CDR Davide Murk – USCG; Ryan Owens – NMSAC; “Capt. Jeff Monroe, NMSAC Chair; Kiefer, Kevin CAPT; CDR Carlos Torres – USCG; Noah Kroloff – DHS; Esther Olavarria – DHS; Rebecca Sharp – DHS; Alan Bersin – Asst Secretary Office of Intl Affairs – DHS; Charles Edwards – DHS; Richard Reback – DHS; Thomas Frost – DHS; Margo Schlanger – DHS; CRCL – DHS; Nelson Peacock – DHS; Eddie Gleason – DHS; Francine Kerner – DHS; OGC – DHS; Office of Intergovernmental Affairs – DHS;
SUBJ: RE: John C. W. Bennet of MPSINT.COM Calls Dr. John A. C. Cartner’s Lloyd’s List Op-Ed “Anti-TWIC Diatribe”
Thank you, Mr. Hamrick for bringing Mr. Bennett’s comments to my attention.
I never respond to individual critics. As E.B. White, the late writer, publisher and critic said to all his critics, “You may be right.” My critics are as correct as they believe themselves to be, even if the facts do not agree with those beliefs. As to your concern about the word “diatribe”, it properly means “a forceful verbal attack”, coming from the Greek meaning “strong argumentative discourse.” I think it was likely used correctly by the writer but unknowingly so. I note that the writer has two middle initials. I wonder whether or not the TWIC card I assume he has been issued reflects the credentials used to obtain it. If not, I continue to argue that the card is, in that case, a wholly false credential and will continue so without completely reliable biometric card readers. I have seen nothing to refute that argument and indeed would welcome a well-wrought refutation, which I believe to be logico-deductively impossible. However the reading machines, to my knowledge, do not exist and logically cannot exist and meet the falsely precise objectives set for them because of the foundational fallacies of the program and for other reasons.
I hasten to add, sir, that I do not oppose port security. Indeed, when I was a shipmaster I often marvelled at the looseness with which ports were secured. I am, however, opposed to wasting public monies on security theater, a phrase coined I believe by Mr. Bruce Schneier for activities which appear formally to be effective but which in reality lack in substantive effectiveness. As I have state several times in my public opinions, the US Coast Guard is the proper agency to oversee all port security as an experienced and capable and well-led professional organization. It is also an organization for which I have great respect because of these characteristics. The Transportation Security Administration has none of these in great measure in its dealings with port security from what I have seen, heard and been advised. I would welcome a well-wrought and justified and truthful refutation of my beliefs. Until then, I rely on the and their justifications and will continue to criticize where criticism is due in the public discourse.
With best regards,
John A. C. Cartner
M.Sc., M.B.A., LL.M., Ph.D., Ch..Eng., Master Mariner
Proctor in Admiralty (U.S.A.), FSNAME, FRINA, FINMAREST
Admitted: D.C., U.S.A.; Member of the Law Society, England & Wales
Managing Member, Cartner & Fiske, LLC / Shipmasterlaw, LLC
See: John A. C. Cartner, et al., The International Law of the Shipmaster (Dec. 2009), Informa/Lloyds Press, ISBN-10: 1843118076, ISBN-13: 978-1843118077 [www.shipmasterlaw.com]; Christian W. J. Cartner, John A. C. Cartner & .P. Fiske, Defending against Pirates: The International Law of Small Arms, Armed Guards and Privateers (April 2011), Intershipmaster Press, 978-0-9835426-0-5.
