Box security device specs due by summer, CBP officials says

Box security device specs due by summer, CBP official says The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is expected to issue technical requirements for a container security device by the beginning of summer, according to Todd Owen, executive director of cargo and conveyance security at Customs and Border Protection.
   At the same meeting, a representative for a major ocean carrier ripped device makers for trying to create a market for a product with limited utility.
   The agency has been working for several years to develop a device that can detect tampering with container doors while in transit, but insists that no technology has yet met the agency's performance standards for a so-called 'smart box.' Interest has waned in a wireless electronic sensor that can detect unauthorized door openings and transmit the data to readers at ports and other chokepoints. DHS officials realize that criminals and terrorists can access containers without opening the doors, and that in-transit security is of little use if the container has already been compromised at the point of origin.
   DHS's focus is now on collecting and analyzing better advanced data about the cargo and shipper, and using better imaging and radiation detection technologies to screen boxes in foreign and domestic ports.
   At the same time, CBP officials have soured on GE Security's device that underwent exclusive testing because it was believed to be the most advanced system available at the time. Part of the problem is that DHS and CBP never clearly defined the performance parameters they expected from the technology, leaving companies uncertain whether what they produced would pass muster for government certification for voluntary use in CBP's supply chain security program, the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. Congress stated in last year's SAFE Port Act that a CSD must at least be able to identify the container, detect and record unauthorized intrusion and secure a container against tampering.
   DHS's Science and Technology Directorate plans to publish the CSD standards by the summer and will invite all suppliers to submit offerings for evaluation that meet the requirements, Owen said at the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee meeting earlier this month. Last December he suggested the S&T Directorate would release its requirements in early 2007.
   CSD requirements will cover the following areas:
   * Secure, non-proprietary communication capabilities.
   * Type of sensor data the device will transmit.
   * Methods for transmitting data to CBP.
   * Other agencies and governments that will have access to the data as the container transmits through their ports or territory.
   * Survivability and vulnerability of the device.
   * False alarm rate.
   * Power or battery life.
   * Probability that the device can be detected.
   * Data messaging format.
   * Event logs.
   * Data encryption.
   Individual companies will submit samples to Science and Technology for lab testing. Once the system works and is not defeated in the lab it will be deployed in specific trade lanes and tested on container shipments, as was done during CBP's Smart Box trials, Owen said.
   'Once we have a CSD that meets the standards, then the discussion can turn to how we employ or require use of those devices,' Owen said.
   CBP intends for CSDs to be used by C-TPAT importers because the validated internal security controls they have undertaken in exchange for fewer inspections gives CBP more confidence that the cargo is legitimate at the point of stuffing.
   Options under consideration are whether to require CSDs for all Tier 3 C-TPAT members (those who exceed best practices and get the most benefits) or just those whose shipments traverse high-risk areas, Owen said.
   Earl Agron, vice president of security for Singapore-based APL Ltd., was critical of the previous rush to implement a CSD rule without a clear definition of what the device is supposed to accomplish.
   'This is a solution looking for a problem,' he said. 'If our adversary is a sophisticated terrorist, we don't need to spend a lot of money on keeping the bumbling thief from breaking into our containers.
   'The process is backwards. You have technology vendors that have a solution. They're pounding your door down and their pounding my door down,' the new COAC member said.
   'Maybe we should come up with a door security device so they stop beating on our doors,' CBP Commissioner Ralph Basham joked.
   Agron contrasted the development of the CSD with the Internet. When the Internet was first rolled out nobody thought it would be successful because it would be limited to a small circle of scientists, and because people would have to invest in modems, computers and other hardware. But when the Internet became interoperable and economic it began to serve an important role in commerce.
   CSDs need to be interoperable, and there needs to be competition among vendors, Agron said. GE Security's CommerceGuard device, for example, uses a proprietary radio frequency identification system.
   'It's never going to be accepted without the government forcing the trade to adopt it,' he said.
   Meanwhile, GE Security said on Feb. 19 that it has added the Port of Portland to its network of facilities with RFID readers for its CommerceGuard device. The company enlisted the support of Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who both attended a ceremony to unveil the readers at the port.
   Wyden introduced the amendment in the port security legislation on CSD standards.