Each year over 2 500 commercial vessels enter the Port of Hampton Roads alone, so adequate funding for port security is a significant issue for those of us who live in Richmond and Hampton Roads.

The speaker uses a concrete statistic about vessel traffic at Hampton Roads to argue that port security is not an abstract national concern but an immediate regional priority. By linking the port’s high volume of commercial shipping to “adequate funding,” the quote frames security as a resource-and-infrastructure problem—one that requires sustained federal investment rather than ad hoc measures. The mention of both Richmond and Hampton Roads broadens the constituency: even inland communities are economically and physically tied to port operations, so vulnerabilities at the port would have ripple effects across Virginia’s supply chains, jobs, and public safety. The line functions as a policy justification grounded in local impact and measurable risk exposure.