The port of Charleston will get $30 million in federal money to help protect it against terrorism, Sen. Fritz Hollings said Thursday in announcing the Senate’s approval of backlogged funding.

The money — more than triple the $9 million for port security last year — amounts to seed money to carry out an ambitious national pilot program, said Sean Kittrell, a federal prosecutor assigned to coordinate the plan.

“It’s hugely important for Charleston and for the state of South Carolina,” Kittrell said.

The pilot plan, dubbed Project Seahawk, is intended to find security procedures for shipping that could be tailored to the nation’s other ports, Hollings and Kittrell said.

The plan is designed to find ways to coordinate federal, state and local agencies so they can make ports safer. The plan includes buying thermal imaging and other sophisticated equipment to examine ship cargo, Kittrell said

The primary goals of the plan are:

• To get the 25 agencies that share responsibilities for securing the Charleston port to work together

• To create an operations center that would analyze data and intelligence from each agency

• To connect the agencies’ computers so they can share information

• To test security techniques and recommend the best to other ports

Hollings, D-S.C., said he secured the money after two earlier rejections by the Senate and President Bush did not recommend port-security-specific funding in his 2004 budget plan.

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664 or cleblanc@thestate.com.