MARSEC (MARitime SECurity) is the North American three-tiered Maritime Security system (

alert state An alert state or state of alert is an indication of the state of readiness of the armed forces for military action or a state against natural disasters, terrorism or military attack. The term frequently used is "on high alert". Examples scales ...

). It is used by both Canada and United States.

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

designed it to easily communicate to the Coast Guard and the maritime industry pre-planned scalable responses for credible threats. Its objective is to provide an assessment of possible

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

activity within the maritime sectors of transportation, including threats to nautical facilities and vessels falling within the jurisdiction of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

that could be targets of attack. The Coast Guard originally created MARSEC to be compatible with, and respond in unison to the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

’s (DHS) Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). With the introduction of the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) to replace HSAS, the

Commandant of the Coast Guard Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

will adjust the MARSEC Level, if appropriate, based on any NTAS Alert issued by DHS. As of 2005,

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

also uses MARSEC levels as legislated in the Marine Transportation Security Regulations.

Alert levels

Under the HSAS there were three levels to the system: * Level 1 – Corresponding with the HSAS levels Green, Blue, or Yellow, or no NTAS threat. * Level 2 – Corresponding with the heightened HSAS risk coded Orange, or an elevated NTAS threat. * Level 3 – Corresponding with the probable and imminent HSAS risk level coded Red, or an imminent NTAS threat. The current levels are:

References

External links

U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Levels
United States Coast Guard Disaster preparedness in the United States {{USCG-stub