Are Florida’s Ports Prepared? Inside the State’s Growing Maritime Security Risks

Text the ATB Team! We'd love to hear from you! In this episode of the At The Boundary podcast, senior director of the GNSI, Jim Cardoso, sat down for a roundtable discussion with Mark Luther, an Associate Professor at USF and the Director for the Center of Maritime and Port Studies, Mark DuPont, the Executive Director of the National Maritime Law Enforcement Academy, and Brian Langley, the Senior Executive Advisor for Cyber Florida. The four recapped the 2025 Florida Security Forum, focusing on Port and Maritime Security, and they discussed the impact of the event, the major takeaways, and planning for the future of both state and national port security.  The maintakeaways from the Forum were the necessity of following up on conversationswith plans of action, working across the state to reinforce port-to-portrelationships, and not losing sight of traditional threats, such as natural disasters, in theface of emerging cybersecurity and drone threats. Action is needed to remindboth state and federal lawmakers of the importance of port and maritimesecurity.  Another maintheme explored how to train the next generation of maritime employees, and howto educate the general public on port affairs.The current lack of a Maritime Academy in Florida is concerning; it outsourcesmaritime education to other states, could undermine the Florida workforce, and could thus have anegative economic impact in the future. Additionally, policymakers can becomeout-of-touch when it comes to creating policies around threats to infrastructure. Educational efforts willreinforce state and federal port security, as well as create strongerpublic-private partnerships between policymakers and the maritime workforcewhich will enable a more unified threat response.  Links from the episode:• WTSP TV news Story Featuring Dr. Robert Burrell: “Venezuelans in Tampa Bay think the U.S. will cause Maduro's downfall”GNSI on X GNSI on LinkedinGNSI on YouTubeAt the Boundary  from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida,  features global and national security issues we’ve found to be insightful, intriguing, fascinating, maybe controversial, but overall just worth talking about.A "boundary" is a place, either literal or figurative, where two forces exist in close proximity to each other. Sometimes that boundary is in a state of harmony. More often than not, that boundary has a bit of chaos baked in. The Global and National Security Institute will live on the boundary of security policy and technology and that's where this podcast will focus. The mission of GNSI is to provide actionable solutions to 21st-century security challenges for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels. We hope you enjoy At the Boundary.Look for our other publications and products on our website publications page.