Department of Homeland Security officials say they are working to develop better explosives detection systems for the air cargo environment, but critics say the government has not moved with urgency the past decade to find effective detection technology for passengers and cargo.
The DHS Science and Technology Directorate is testing and evaluating several types of security systems for palletized cargo, including cargo metal detectors, an improvised explosive device (IED) detector and advanced trace sampling and detection systems, said Eric Houser, deputy director of the Explosives Division, at a mid-December briefing about the new Certified Cargo Screening Program.
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Air cargo is supposed to be an express transport mode, but airlines and shippers worry about delays without technology that can scan a whole pallet without disassembly.
TSA, which is responsible for overseeing aviation security, has basically inherited screening technologies from the baggage environment. The systems were designed for baggage and small packages, not consolidated shipments. Baggage tends to be much more uniform in size and contents than cargo, which can range from automobile parts, to frozen fish, antiquities and laptop computers. Cargo also passes through warehouses where the shipper loses physical control of the commodity.
A shipment of lobsters, for example, can't be checked with explosives trace detection because it's too wet, or by X-ray because the water is too dense.
Some security experts say the baggage and passenger detection systems themselves use outdated technology that limits their effectiveness.
The U.S. government has failed to devote the resources necessary to develop next-generation explosives detection systems, according to Larry Johnson, a former State Department counterterrorism expert.
Among the Science and Technology Directorate's goals, Houser said, are:
' High volume, explosive trace detection machines ' essentially chemical analyzers ' that have a higher probability of detecting an explosive and a lower false-alarm rate.
' Larger scale metal detectors to identify IEDs concealed in non-metallic cargo.
' Bulk scanning devices.
' Software enhancements that can automatically alert the operator if a cargo is too dense or complex to be screened by X-ray or multi-image computerized tomography systems.
The directorate is also developing new training methods for canines to improve their detection capabilities.
As part of the process, DHS continues to encourage companies to submit emerging technologies for qualification reviews and is assessing commercial off-the-shelf technologies to screen bulk shipments.
The International Air Cargo Association, which represents a cross-section of the air cargo and logistics industries, in November called on TSA to expedite its evaluation of new technologies to support the inspect-all mandate.
'We've got to encourage DHS to look at as many technologies as possible. Sure, there is a lot of snake oil in the market, but TSA standards are pretty high. Business needs to get this technology as quick as possible,' said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, at the briefing.
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