A highly touted port-security effort launched in Charleston about three years ago would be expanded nationwide under legislation being proposed by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham said Thursday he has introduced a bill to bring the Project Seahawk concept to other cities that are points of entry for shipping containers and other international waterborne cargo.

"There's no doubt that the question of how to protect our ports is a serious question facing America," he said.

Graham, an ardent Seahawk supporter, is calling for multiple operation centers modeled after the Charleston-based task force. The cost of the expansion and how it would be funded has not been finalized.

Overseen by the Justice Department, Seahawk was the nation's first and only collaborative counterterrorism program set up to identify and respond to potential threats in U.S. waters and at U.S. ports, where the nation is said to be highly vulnerable to terrorists.

One of the pilot project's main focuses is to ensure that none of the thousands of shipping containers that are off-loaded at local terminals on a typical day is carrying a dirty bomb or other weapon of mass destruction.

"That's why I believe that as a nation we would be wise to take what we have learned at the Port of Charleston with Project Seahawk and expand it to additionalports across America," Graham said.

His bill proposes that the "Sea- hawk Centers" be run by the Coast Guard. They would include representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, Defense Department, FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office and other federal agencies. Also, state and local law enforcement, emergency responders, port authorities and others would play active roles in the joint operations, just as they do in Charleston.

Participants in Seahawk's local "unified command" meet every day at a high-tech center at an undisclosed location to exchange and analyze information about ship movements in and around the Port of Charleston, one of the nation's busiest container-handling facilities.

Earlier this year Seahawk was in jeopardy of losing its funding. The Justice Department had proposed canceling $27 million in appropriations earmarked for the program starting Oct. 1. With Graham's help, a Senate budget amendment restored the money.

His proposal to extend Seahawk's reach comes about two weeks after a congressional committee stripped $648 million in additional port-security funding from an emergency spending bill.

The American Association of Port Authorities said its 150 members already are facing hefty unfunded security mandates, leaving them with less to invest in their facilities. The Bush administration and Congress "missed an opportunity to make a real difference on the issue," the trade group said.

Reach John McDermott at 937-5572 or jmcdermott@postandcourier.com.