Aviation experts present cargo security changes to TSA

Aviation experts present cargo security changes to TSA    The U.S. Transportation Security Administration received a series of recommendations Wednesday on how to improve air cargo security as the agency prepares to propose rules for tightening security for cargo that flies on passenger and all-cargo aircraft.
   The recommendations covered areas such as improving how carriers accept shipments from known and unknown parties, ensuring that freight forwarders follow the same security protocols as shippers and carriers, and securing all-cargo aircraft. Few details were provided during the public meeting or afterwards on the TSA Web site. Officials, worried about revealing too much about vulnerabilities in the aviation system, said the actual reports were classified.
   TSA spokesman Brian Turmail said the agency is working on producing a scrubbed version of the reports without sensitive material for public consumption.
   The recommendations were crafted by a trio of joint industry-government working groups and were forwarded to TSA in whole, including several dissenting opinions, by the standing Aviation Security Advisory Committee. TSA officials said they are working on developing a comprehensive air cargo security approach that focuses on using risk management principles to devote resources to the greatest threats and plan to issue a formal rulemaking proposal by the end of the year. The rules are expected to go beyond the three areas studied by the working groups
   TSA's goals for 2004 include enhancing the known shipper program, testing explosives detection machines for packages and expanding the use of canine detection teams, Elaine Dezenski, director of maritime, land and cargo policy, told the panel.