For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 25, 2002

Statement by the President

Today I have signed into law S. 1214, the "Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002." This Act will strengthen security at our Nation's seaports by requiring comprehensive security plans for U.S. ports and mandating improved identification and screening of seaport personnel.

Certain provisions of the Act, including sections 102, 103(b), 110(c)(4), and 112(4), purport to require an executive branch official to submit recommendations to the Congress. The executive branch shall construe such provisions in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch. Moreover, to the extent such provisions of the Act would require submission of legislative recommendations, they would impermissibly impinge upon the President's constitutional authority to submit only those legislative recommendations that he judges to be necessary and expedient. Accordingly, the executive branch shall construe such provisions as requiring submission of legislative recom-mendations only where the President judges them necessary and expedient.

Section 102 of the Act adds a new section 70109 to title 46 of the United States Code. This provision purports to require one of my subordinates to notify foreign officials of certain findings and recommend antiterrorism measures to them. The constitutional authority of the President over foreign affairs necessarily entails discretion over these matters, and so the executive branch shall interpret this provision as precatory.

Section 102 of the Act also adds a new section 70112 to title 46. Section 70112(a)(1)(B) purports to authorize an advisory committee in the executive branch to make available to the Congress recommendations that the committee makes to the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating. The executive branch shall construe this provision in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to protect the deliberative processes of the Executive.

GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 25, 2002.

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