Q&A: The Reporter Who Skirted Navy Security

Oct. 25 -- Correspondent Jim Hoffer was convinced he was pursuing a decent story.

U.S. warships at key Atlantic Ocean bases were vulnerable; of that he was certain. The irony was that he was pursuing the story before an attack on the USS Cole left 17 sailors dead and more than 30 injured in the Middle East port city of Aden.

On Oct. 12, the day of the deadly blast, Hoffer, a correspondent with WABC-TV in New York, teamed up with a photographer and navigated a small rental boat to within 10 feet of a guided missile destroyer at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia. They were not challenged in any way. In the weeks prior to the blast, he tested security at other bases.

Hoffer gave a Web exclusive interview to ABCNEWS.com explaining how he approached many navy vessels at key bases and proved just how vulnerable the American Navy might be.

Question: History tells us that terrorist or criminal acts are rarely undertaken by accessing the toughest security front. You experienced tight security at the front gates to bases but little security around the vessels themselves. What was it that appeared to be the biggest problem?Answer: If you put a guard at the front door, why would you leave the back door open? There was strict security for road access but little or none that was obvious by sea.

Question: Did you revisit any of the bases after sunset?Answer: No, but my sense of it is that at night it would have been even easier to get close to vessels under cover of darkness. We were there in broad daylight.

Question: Who was on the decks of these vessels you approached?Answer: There were contractors and workers but there were sailors as well. Some of them gave us bizarre glances and looks but never once did anyone say ‘you’re too close, get away’

Question: Did any of the Navy personnel on the vessels have weapons?Answer: There was, in one instance, an armed sailor standing guard on one of the submarines and I’m sure if you’d tried to get up on it, there would have been action taken. But as we learned with the Cole, you don’t have to get on it, you just have to get next to it.