Highlights
– Pilot programs testing technologies for screening cargo are underway
– Insufficient cargo inspectors and mounting costs for compliant shipping entities highlight program’s flaws
– Meeting the August 2010 deadline is highly unlikely due to immense scope of 100 percent scanning
According to the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is required to physically screen 50 percent of passenger air cargo by February 2009, followed by 100 percent air cargo scanning by August 2010. To prepare for this rigorous task, TSA created the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP) to enable the screening of cargo at various points throughout the supply chain. The eventual goal for the CCSP would be to move a large portion of the screening activities away from smaller airport cargo facilities to Certified Cargo Screening Facilities (CCSF), which include manufacturing plants, shipping companies, and freight forwarders.
However, on behalf of the Government of Accountability Office (GAO), director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues, Cathleen Berrick, recently testified before Congress’s Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection. Berrick highlighted several significant remaining challenges that lie ahead for TSA preparing for this requirement.
The challenges indicate that TSA will not be able to generate the human resources, technology or plan to meet its own deadlines for the congressionally mandated program.
Technology and Costs Remain Major Concerns
While the GAO has acknowledged the efforts of the TSA in preparing for this program, Berrick’s testimony highlights four significant challenges that remain.
• TSA continues to develop a number of pilot programs to test technologies for screening and securing air cargo with minimal impact on the flow of trade. However, TSA officials have stated there is no single technology capable of efficiently and effectively screening all types of air cargo for all types of terrorist threats ranging from explosives to nuclear weapons smuggling.
• TSA plans to continue to exempt some categories of domestic and outbound cargo for screening. However, TSA made these determinations on a limited number of vulnerability assessments and does not have a timetable for completing the remaining air cargo vulnerability assessments.
• There is likely to be a shortage of inspectors to conduct compliance inspections of all participating entities, which could number in the thousands by 2010.
• While the program sets out to screen all domestic and outbound cargo, the program does not include inbound cargo transported from a foreign nation to the United States (US).
A lack of government funding, specifically leading to a majority of the overall costs that will be placed on companies in the supply chain, presents an additional problem. Due to equipment costs ranging from US$150,000 to US$500,000 per facility, participating CCSF’s may choose to opt out of the program. This could potentially create a bottleneck in the supply chain, and significantly cause a concern for shippers of perishable goods on passenger planes.
Outlook
The plan would not apply to cargo airlines, which accounted for 93 percent of the 27 billion pounds of freight cargo in 2007, as well as US mail on passenger airplanes. However, 12 million pounds of cargo is carried on US domestic passenger services daily.
With the program’s immense scope and current resource and technology uncertainties, meeting the goal of 100 percent scanning by 2010 is not likely realistic. Despite this, the TSA has stated that the plan’s initial stages are currently underway in major cities.
