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Democrats Urge Full Cargo Screens at Overseas Ports By Jon Fox, Global Security Newswire Requiring such screening would slash the amount of foreign trade with the “It’s a wonderful aspiration, but it’s not a realistic mandate,” he said, adding that it would be “as unrealistic as passing a law that says in three years cancer has to be cured.” Chertoff appeared before the committee to outline his agency’s plans for the coming year. He said that 80 percent of all maritime shipping containers would pass through radiation detectors at Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) expressed surprise at Chertoff’s figures. “I didn’t know we were anywhere near that,” he said, but quickly added that scanning cargo before it hits “Why can’t we do it on the other side of the ocean before they start?” DeFazio asked. “It seems to me with a WMD you’d want to screen on the other side.” He asked why there appeared to be reluctance on the part of the Bush administration to require such radiation scanning at ports of origin. “We don’t own the foreign ports, congressman,” Chertoff said. He also offered a number of other potential problems, including overseas ports with levels of background radiation that would trigger an incessant string of false positives, lack of adequate manpower at ports, and governments that simply would not want to implement such a program. “The point is if we don’t push them they’re not going to do it,” DeFazio responded. Working to detect nuclear material when a shipping container has arrived in the Despite obstacles to screening at overseas ports, the Under the separate Energy Department Megaports Initiative, the United States has provided radiation detection equipment and training for officials at a number ports in other countries, including Greece, the Bahamas, Spain, Sri Lanka, Singapore and the Netherlands. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) used his five minutes of speaking time to pounce on Chertoff’s comments likening mandating foreign screening to requiring a cure for cancer. “I think that’s a faulty analogy,” Markey said, adding that a better analogy would be passing a law requiring women to be screened for breast cancer and men for prostate cancer. “We’re not calling for an elimination of nuclear bombs anymore than we would call for a cure for cancer,” he said. “What we are saying though is that there are detection devices that can be put in place to protect Americans at an early stage.” Like DeFazio, Markey turned Chertoff’s appearance before the committee into an opportunity to question the priorities of the current Republican administration. “I just think your administration has not done the job to protect us against the greatest al-Qaeda terrorist threat,” he said. The discussion came within the context of a broader congressional debate on port security. The House and Senate have both passed versions of a port security bill. The Senate bill, which authorizes spending $835 million in fiscal 2007, would fund installation of radiation detectors at the 22 largest Neither bill includes a provision to ensure that all U.S.-bound containers are scanned for radiation overseas. The Senate legislation requires inspection overseas of cargo considered suspicious and establishes a pilot program to scan containers for radiation at three overseas ports. The bill would authorize nearly $3.3 billion in port-security funding over the next six years and provide for $400 in security grants for individual ports. The House and the Senate versions must still be reconciled before the legislation can become law.
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