U.S. seeks better manifest data for screening air cargo

U.S. seeks better manifest data for screening air cargo    Obtaining shipment data from airlines sooner than required under current regulations is one of several steps U.S. government officials are considering to increase air cargo security in the wake of the recent plot to place parcel bombs on U.S.-bound freighters, according to Department of Homeland Security and industry officials.
   Under the Trade Act of 2002, air carriers must transmit cargo manifest data four hours prior to arrival in the United States, or at takeoff for flights originating from nearby Central America and parts of South America. U.S. Customs and Border Protection runs the data through its automated targeting systems, matching shipments against a matrix of potential risks and intelligence reports, to identify suspicious cargo for inspection.
   By contrast, ocean carriers must submit advance manifest data 24 hours prior to vessel loading at an overseas port.
   DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano on Monday announced the administration is working with foreign governments and industry to expedite the receipt of cargo manifests for international flights to the United States prior to departure.
   'Our focus is going to be receiving pre-advance, pre-departure information, which currently doesn't do us a lot of good' because the aircraft is already airborne by the time a potential threat can be ascertained, a CBP official close to the situation told AmericanShipper.com.
   The agency is interested in getting the data before takeoff ' but not as early as the ocean deadline — so inspections can take place at origin and prevent hazardous shipments from making their way onboard an airliner, the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to publicly speak about the internal policy discussions.
   CBP officials met last week with representatives of the express consignment and passenger airline industries to explain the direction they are heading and received support for more data sharing, the source said. He stressed that no concrete decisions have been made yet about how to improve the existing risk-management approach.
   The talks are focused on pushing back the manifest data deadline or getting some additional information carriers already collect from customers because the manifest may be incomplete earlier in the shipping process. CBP needs to better understand the express carriers' sophisticated track-and-trace systems, what data they have that could prove helpful for data mining and how Customs officers would go about alerting the airline to hold a shipment for inspection, the CBP official said.
   Customs last year implemented a rule requiring importers to electronically transmit data about their ocean shipments because of concerns that manifest data is not very reliable or detailed enough.
   All-cargo carriers, especially overnight delivery companies such as FedEx and UPS, are extremely worried about a reflex response on Capitol Hill that could make air transport prohibitively expensive and cumbersome for shippers.
   'I think the main thing we're concerned about right now is to try and head off any knee-jerk reaction to these events that are out of proportion to the severity of the threat or have a really negative impact on the business side of the equation. These companies are taking this very seriously. Everybody is taking look internally at their measures,' said Michael Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America, in a phone interview.
   Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who authored the legislation that requires 100 percent of cargo on passenger planes to be screened as of Aug. 1, 2010, has already said he plans to introduce a bill in the next session of Congress to expand the requirement to all-cargo planes.
   'In 2007, my amendment on air cargo screening was enacted into law, closing a cargo security gap on passenger planes. At the time, strong opposition from the shipping industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other business interests prevented the inclusion of a screening mandate for all-cargo planes. Following this recent foiled cargo bombing plot from Yemen, now is the time to finish the job,' Markey said in a statement.
   'It is time for the shipping industry and the business community to accept the reality that more needs to be done to secure cargo planes so that they cannot be turned into delivery systems for bombs targeting our country,' he said.
   In a letter to President Obama on Nov. 2, Markey and Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said the Transportation Security Administration should begin screening all cargo from countries identified as having terrorism problems.
   Napolitano also announced a series of more immediate security measures that took effect on Monday. Last week's ban on air cargo from Yemen will continue indefinitely and has been extended to all air cargo from Somali. The United States also will no longer allow high-risk cargo on passenger aircraft and has prohibited toner and ink cartridges over 16 ounces in both carry-on bags and checked bags on domestic and international-inbound passenger flights. The ban also applies to certain inbound all-cargo shipments. All cargo identified as high risk will go through additional and enhanced screening. The stricter rules also apply to international mail packages, which must be individually screened and certified to have come from an established postal shipper.
   The lack of immediate steps to inspect all air cargo since the bomb plot suggests that authorities worldwide realize that scanning has limited benefit and cannot readily detect the PETN explosive powder that terrorists used in the packages or last December's failed attempt to detonate a bomb concealed in a passenger's underwear. The two parcels found in Dubai and East Midlands Airport in the United Kingdom in fact were X-rayed in Sana'a, Yemen and Dubai.
   Germany's BKA Criminal Police Office has received copies of the X-ray images from Dubai and one investigator admitted that German security staff would not have identified the explosive either, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported.
   The air cargo industry is still hampered by the lack of a technology that can scan air containers or large shrink-wrapped pallets that predominate in international trade. The TSA has recently approved some large aperture X-ray units that can screen an entire standard wooden pallet with boxes that all contain the same product.
      The technological challenge of imaging cargo places greater importance on analyzing shipment data for anomalies, something CBP is trying to figure out how to achieve sooner in the supply chain.
   'We haven't reached on any conclusions on what data to get, who has it, and what time it should be sent to us,' the CBP source said. 'But there is general consensus that we need advance data, pre-departure.' Officials at this early stage haven't addressed information technology, legal and other prerequisites for implanting a new regulation, or even whether the implementing mechanism would be a rulemaking or some kind of an industry directive.
   Mullen confirmed the courier industry is actively cooperating with Customs.
   'Both the government and the express companies are in the mode of looking at what additional information is out there that's collected in databases right now and how that might assist the government's targeting effort. And I don't think the government has come up yet with a clear picture of what those additional data elements might be,' he said.
   Mullen said the ability of customers to track their packages every step of the way through the FedEx and UPS networks helped investigators pinpoint the location of the parcel bomb packages in England and Dubai, and intercept them before anyone was harmed.
   'Already the express industry sets the gold standard in terms of information management and the security of their supply chain. The business model itself is so information intensive that they know where these packages are every minute of the day,' he said.
   'That might be one of the lessons out of this. There probably has to be a better information sharing regime between the government and the private sector so the threat information is disseminated a little more rapidly,' he said. That means information sharing needs to be a two-way street in which government does a better job of letting businesses know what to look out for and when.
   All-cargo carriers already must follow Transportation Security Administration directives covering physical and information security, employee background checks and access controls to cargo areas and planes.
   The Express Association of America, which also represents DHL and TNT, is emphasizing during the talks that government security efforts focus on a small handful of countries where the terrorist threat is the greatest, Mullen added.
   'We're trying to get them to take a whole supply chain look at this and not just react in one area. Look at everything that is being done from one end of this process to the other,' he explained.
   The House Homeland Security Committee's request for the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit of the nation's air cargo security regime and make any necessary recommendations is a better approach than rushing out with scan-all legislation, Mullen said.
   Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, also urged the government to stick to a multilayered, risk-based system rather than inspect all shipments.
   'We would hope that a more rationale, comprehensive approach that incorporates risk management into the solution is what they choose. Feel-good solutions can leave gaps in the safety net which will sooner or later be exploited.'
   The sharing of real-time information between governments and air carriers to thwart the recent parcel bomb plot underscores the value of intelligence over a one-size-fits-all approach, Fried said, 'because if you screen every box on a FedEx or UPS plane there's a good chance you're not going to find anything.'
   But he acknowledged that the status quo is no longer acceptable.

Fried

   'I think there were those out there who in the past that perceived that were no holes, or that the holes only existed on the passenger side and that all-cargo did not have the threat that was posed to passenger aircraft. Obviously, the industry and the all-cargo carriers need to take a second look at that approach,' Fried said.
   He recommended TSA expand the Certified Cargo Screening Program to all-cargo carriers. CCSP was developed to help shippers and airlines meet the Aug. 1 deadline to screen 100 percent of parcels and freight on passenger planes without causing backlogs at the airports. The mandate requires screening down to the carton, or piece, level, which led to fears that airlines would be overwhelmed if some cargo wasn't pre-screened before entering their systems. Under the voluntary program, shippers can get certified to pack shipments in a secure manner or have their certified freight forwarder deconsolidate palletized freight and check it by physical or non-intrusive means. Either party must then maintain a secure chain of custody during transport to the airport.
   'We've had successful implementation (of the passenger rule) within the forwarder community for the last three months, with virtual transparency and almost no delays at the airports,' Fried said.
   Shippers who participate in CCSP incur the lowest expense because they're building in security as they pack the boxes without having to pay a third party to screen on their behalf further down the supply chain, he noted.
   'We're not calling for 100 percent screening of every package. We're calling for increased risk-based screening so that high-risk cargo is singled out and looked at more carefully.' ' Eric Kulisch