Chertoff stands ground on 100% scanning

Chertoff stands ground on 100% scanning U.S. Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff remains unapologetic about his department’s targeted approach towards implementing a mandate for overseas scanning of all ocean containers, telling a House leader that prioritizing resources at ports with greater security risks will have the most immediate benefit.

Chertoff

   Responding to charges by Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson that administration officials are disregarding the intent of Congress to scan all inbound containers by 2012, Chertoff insisted that the departmental strategy of deploying scanning equipment on a limited number of trade lanes is consistent with language in the 2007 law allowing extensions for ports that face technical, infrastructure and diplomatic challenges or disruptions to normal port operations.
   “With over 700 ports shipping to the United States and more than 11 million containers arriving each year, DHS must have a realistic strategy that acknowledges the importance of keeping legitimate trade flowing,” Chertoff said in an Oct. 3 letter obtained by American Shipper.
   The letter comes almost two months after Thompson castigated department officials for continuing to disparage the 100 percent scanning mandate and asked for an explanation of progress towards meeting the box scan deadline, whether there are any continuity plans for the next administration and a definition of high-risk trade corridors.
   On Sept. 30, Thompson complained in writing that DHS had ignored his questions and was endangering the public by not closing a security gap that terrorists could exploit to smuggle people or weapons to attack U.S. cities.
   Chertoff reminded Thompson that DHS had warned about the legal and practical problems associated with the scan-all approach, not least of which is getting foreign governments — many of whom strongly oppose the scanning mandate — to cooperate with a U.S. regulation that imposes costs and responsibilities on them and the private sector.
   “Thus, I am sure you recognize that when Congress enacts a law that imposes requirements on foreign governments on their soil, certain implementation challenges arise. The hardworking men and women of this department have been diligently encouraging and assisting these sovereign governments to embrace the congressional mandate. Most of these sovereign powers are making an honest effort to work through the many legal and physical challenges of implementing this law. To characterize the timing of these good-faith efforts as an attempt by either this department or these governments to “thwart” or “ignore” this congressional requirement is unfair,” Chertoff wrote.
   He pointed to Singapore as an example of why rushing to deploy X-ray type systems without carefully addressing unique challenges in each port environment would be irresponsible and create bottlenecks that impact legitimate trade.
   DHS and Singapore mutually agreed to scrap a planned program to test scanning with existing technology after it was determined that the pilot study’s benefits were outweighed by the impact on cargo traffic.
   “The end of the pilot in Singapore was not due to a lack of direction from DHS, as you allege; rather, it resulted from the significant challenges to scanning transshipment traffic in a very high volume port. Additional technological advances will be necessary to efficiently capture transshipped cargo,” Chertoff wrote.
   Scanning transshipment cargo also ran into problems at the Port of Southampton, where DHS was forced to limit non-intrusive inspections to containers arriving by rail or truck via the gate. Technology doesn’t exist yet that can efficiently scan ship-to-ship transfers without an intermediate truck move through a security portal, according to DHS officials.
   In Korea, objections by the truckers’ union about the safety of driving through a high-energy imaging system has delayed implementation of the program at the Gamman Terminal in Busan.
   Both locations are part of the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI), an effort to test the feasibility of scanning and radiation detection of all-U.S. bound containers. Customs and Border Protection, the DHS agency responsible for the SFI program and border security, delivered a report to Congress last summer with its lessons learned and plans to concentrate the comprehensive scanning on high-risk trade lanes. Another CBP program, the Container Security Initiative, relies on advance cargo manifests and intelligence analysis to help officers selectively target suspicious containers and request authorities at 58 participating foreign ports to inspect the containers with large-scale inspection systems.
   Chertoff defined a high-risk trade corridor as “a shipping lane that has service to the United States and includes foreign seaports that handle maritime containerized goods that either transit or originate from high-threat areas or possess potentially high-risk cargo as defined by CBP’s Automated Targeting System.”
   SFI has also identified data sharing as a thorny issue for some governments, Chertoff said. The Hong Kong Customs Service doesn’t have the authority to share the scan images with the U.S. government, so the U.S. Customs’ Container Security Initiative team stationed in the port receives the data directly from Modern Terminals, the private operator participating in the test. Getting the Chinese government to allow sharing of security data will be difficult, he suggested.
   He reiterated the department’s recent theme that DHS must prioritize use of its resources to address threats beyond containerized cargo, and that it is documenting its risk-based, layered approach to security for the next administration.
   One of the promising layers to be implemented soon is the “10+2” rule requiring importers to electronically transmit advance information about their cargo and trade partners, Chertoff said.
   Further study, he added, must be given to what role the private sector might play in operating scanning equipment and whether its feasible for the U.S. government to receive and analyze in a meaningful way the massive amounts of data collected.
   “We will continue to refine and develop our expansion approach. In the near-term, by focusing on how and where additional scan data can be immediately beneficial, we are ensuring that scanning is deployed first where it is most needed and feasible” while allowing time for better inspection technologies to be developed for broader application, Chertoff said.
   “I believe this risk-based approach accords precisely with the will of Congress and the American people.' ' Eric Kulisch