Coast Guard officials insist there's nothing wrong with security at Port Newark, and they're blaming a security breach on cargo ship workers, who didn't notice that an emotionally disturbed man, who had scaled a barbed wire fence to get into the facility wasn't wearing an ID badge.

Port Newark
loading...

The head of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee isn't buying it.

Assemblywoman Annette Quijano says she's concerned about the situation.

"There appears to be a failure at multiple levels of security."

She's announced her panel will hold a special hearing this fall to get to the bottom of the Port Newark security foul-up.

But in the meantime she's recommending that the Port Authority "review protocols and security standards. Items that were evaluated and considered low risk on its breachability must now be reviewed again, and there needs to be a re-training of employees and third to re-evaluate security risks of the entire perimeter - both public and private entities…It is a very large area - some parts will need high technology and others not."

Quijano adds she and her Committee will soon make another visit to Port Newark.

"I'm going to pay more attention to entry points- height of fences - what are the security protocols now in place…This is a wake-up call - a weakness in the perimeter security has been demonstrated. We have to start re-evaluating and checking - going back to the basics…We might have to go to the minutest entry point, something that we may have not considered before."

The intruder, 20 year-old Eric Carrero of Yonkers, New York, has been charged with unlawful entry of a structure and is now undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. After entering the Port he wandered around for hours, then boarded a ship and proceeded to go into the Captain's cabin and climb into bed.

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM