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Volume 16, Issue 70
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Wednesday, April 8, 2009
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Report Finds Shortcomings with Known Shipper Program for Air Cargo
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General released last month a report that finds a number of shortcomings with respect to the Transportation Security Administration’s Known Shipper Program for air cargo.
The KSP establishes procedures for differentiating between shippers that are known and unknown for air carriers and indirect air carriers who tender cargo for air transportation. Under applicable regulations domestic and foreign passenger aircraft operators, all-cargo aircraft carriers or indirect air carriers (also known as freight forwarders) operating under an approved TSA Standard Security Program may only tender cargo for transport on passenger aircraft from shippers that are verified as known. A known shipper is a person that has an established business relationship with an indirect air carrier, aircraft operator or air carrier based on items such as customer records, shipping contracts, a business history and a site visit, or Dun and Bradstreet vetting. TSA works to verify known shippers by conducting inspections at air carriers, indirect air carriers and all-cargo operator stations as well as monthly tests at high-volume cargo airports in which agency inspectors pose as unknown shippers and attempt to ship cargo on passenger aircraft.
The report concludes that the KSP does not provide assurance that only cargo from known shippers is transported on passenger aircraft. The report finds problems with each of the methods TSA currently allows regulated entities to use to classify a shipper as known: manual procedures, the Known Shipper Database and the Known Shipper Management System. The KSMS is still under development and TSA is faced with resolving various development and deployment challenges, including technical problems and policy issues such as how domestic known shippers with foreign business locations can tender cargo abroad for transport on passenger aircraft. With respect to the other two methods, TSA’s criteria and guidance are unclear and subject to interpretation, increasing the risk that an entity could falsify or counterfeit shipping documents to become a known shipper. In addition, TSA’s oversight activities do not ensure that regulated entities are complying with KSP requirements.
The report identifies other problems as well. TSA’s written standard security programs do not provide enough guidance on the level of details that need to be collected and reviewed in making a shipper known through the manual procedures and KSDB. Under these methods entities are allowed to perform minimal investigative procedures to demonstrate that these shippers are trustworthy and have adequate security measures in place to ensure the integrity of their shipments. By not providing specific criteria and guidance to establish and verify a known shipper, TSA provides opportunities for any shipper, including criminals or terrorists, to obtain known status without adequate verification.
Finally, TSA’s inspections may not accurately determine KSP compliance. The agency’s national inspection manual provides limited information about the four general inspection methods that inspectors may use (surveillance, interviewing, reviewing documentation and testing) and does not specify to what extent each method should be applied. Given such flexibilities, inspectors may favor one method over the others, which may not effectively identify KSP violations.
Source Document 1...
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