Jamaica joins CSI program

Jamaica joins CSI program    Jamaica agreed Tuesday to open its doors to U.S. Customs inspectors, becoming the latest country to participate in the Container Security Initiative for examining U.S.-bound cargo for terrorist threats.
   The Caribbean island nation will also receive assistance in the form of large-scale radiation detection machines loaned by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency said.
      Under CSI, U.S. inspectors are stationed at foreign ports and identify certain pre-screened containers for the host government to inspect for radiological materials, components and actual weapons of mass destruction.
   CSI teams now work in 44 ports and Customs and Border Protection plans to expand that number to 58 ports within the next year, Commissioner Ralph Basham said in his first public speech to the trade community last week.
   The agency claims that 75 percent of cargo containers destined for the United States originate in or are transshipped through CSI ports.
   The DOE’s Megaports Initiative has helped six nations so far install nuclear detection technology at ports.