Cargo Scanning Program Needs Boost, GAO Says

U.S. auditors last week urged the Homeland Security Department to improve its nuclear and WMD detection efforts at international seaports (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2007).

The U.S. Container Security Initiative aims to scan all U.S.-bound cargo, and the program expanded its coverage to include 86 percent of incoming cargo containers in fiscal 2007, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office.  Radiation and other detectors have been installed at 58 major seaports by the department’s Customs and Border Protection division.

Despite this progress, more efforts are needed to fully staff the cargo screening operations, to improve relations with host-country personnel, and to set standards for inspection processes, the study found.  These measures are particularly important to build confidence that WMD materials can be found.

“CBP potentially lacks information to ensure that host government examinations can detect and identify weapons of mass destruction, which is important because containers are typically not re-examined in the United States if already examined at a CSI seaport,” according to the study’s summary.  More than 10 million containers enter the nation’s seaports annually, about 28,000 each day, the study says (U.S. Government Accountability Office release, Jan. 25).

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