GAO asked to study container security technologies

GAO asked to study container security technologies    Five U.S. lawmakers have requested the General Accounting Office assess the performance of technologies used to screen containers transiting U.S. ports.
   Sen. Ernest Hollings, who has constantly criticized the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress for not following through on promises to beef up homeland security efforts with adequate resources, said the GAO review is necessary to develop better port security policies.
   “We have $1 trillion in goods entering our country, and we need to get moving on better screening those goods,” he said in a statement.
   The lawmakers asked the congressional watchdog agency to determine the best technologies in use or under development to seal, track and monitor, and scan containers, as well as information systems that link the different data elements together for law enforcement purposes.
   Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, U.S. Customs inspected less than 2 percent of inbound containers for contraband and other illegal shipments. Physical screening has since increased to about 5 percent of all containers thanks to the deployment of more container x-ray machines. Customs and Border Protection officials claim that more than 12 percent of containers are actually screened when including targeted examinations of shipping data for suspicious cargo.
   Hollings was joined in his request by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. as well as Reps. Sherwood Boehlert, D-N.Y., and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn.