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Volume 16, Issue 242
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Friday, December 4, 2009
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DHS to Push Back Deadline for 100% Cargo Scanning
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told a Senate committee Dec. 2 that the Department of Homeland Security plans to push back the July 2012 deadline for achieving 100% scanning of all inbound oceanborne cargo containers. Napolitano said meeting this deadline with existing resources and technology is virtually impossible due to numerous challenges, which were spelled out in a Government Accountability Office report issued this week. According to reports, there was little opposition to Napolitano’s plan among senators attending the hearing.
Speaking before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Napolitano said DHS will seek a two-year extension of the 100% scanning mandate for all foreign ports. She explained that the ongoing Secure Freight Initiative pilot program designed to test the feasibility of 100% scanning has encountered a number of serious challenges. Some of these challenges are logistical: many ports do not have one single area through which all cargo passes, and scanning 100% of cargo is currently unworkable without seriously hindering the flow of shipments or redesigning the ports themselves, which would require huge capital investment. Other challenges are technological: there is currently no technology that can effectively and automatically detect suspicious anomalies within cargo containers that should trigger additional inspection, and expanding screening with available technology would slow the flow of commerce and drive up costs to consumers without bringing significant security benefits. The cost of implementing this mandate would be prohibitive as well, as DHS estimates that deploying SFI-type scanning equipment would cost about $8 million per lane for the more than 2,100 shipping lanes at more than 700 ports around the world that ship to the U.S. This figure does not include the “huge” costs that would have to be borne by foreign governments or industry.
A GAO report submitted for the hearing painted a similar picture. The report found that the feasibility of 100% scanning remains largely unproven because U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not been able to achieve this goal at any port participating in the SFI. While 54-86% of U.S.-bound cargo containers were scanned at three comparatively low-volume SFI ports that are responsible for less than 3% of container shipments to the U.S., sustained scanning rates above 5% have not been achieved at two comparatively larger SFI ports. Obstacles have included safety concerns, logistical problems with containers transferred from rail or other vessels, scanning equipment breakdowns and poor quality scan images.
According to the report, CBP does not have a plan to scan cargo containers at all foreign ports because these challenges indicate that doing so would be difficult to achieve. Instead, CBP has planned two other initiatives to improve container security. One is a “strategic trade corridor strategy” that would involve scanning 100% of U.S.-bound containers at selected foreign ports where CBP believes it will mitigate the greatest risk of weapons of mass destruction entering the U.S. The second initiative is the importer security filing or 10+2 program, which requires importers to provide 10 data elements and vessel carriers to provide two data elements on containers and their cargo. This data adds to the information available to CBP and improves its ability to identify containers that may require scanning or physical inspection.
The report also states that 100% scanning could present challenges to the continued operation of existing container security programs, which employ a risk-based approach based on international supply chain security standards. The report notes that at one of the SFI pilot ports, the continued operation of that program reduced the willingness of the foreign government to work with CBP to identify and physically inspect containers under the Container Security Initiative. The implementation of 100% scanning could also reduce the willingness of companies to partner with CBP to improve their internal security programs. For example, cargo containers belonging to importers who participate in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism generally receive less scrutiny, a benefit that would be lost with the potential worldwide requirement to scan all U.S.-bound containers.
Source Document 1...
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