Container Screening

Senators Question Progress on Container Screening
August 5, 2005
by Congressional Quarterly

About 70 percent of cargo containers shipped to the United States are now being screened, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said this week. But leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said more needs to be done. CBP's Container Security Initiative now reaches 38 ports in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North America, including the 20 ports shipping the most containers to the United States. Bonner said the goal is to have 50 ports in the screening program by the end of 2006. But Senate committee Chairwoman Susan Collins of Maine and ranking Democrat Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut yesterday said that "U.S. ports remain vulnerable to terrorist attack because officials still know far too little about the contents of shipping containers" coming here. They cited a new Department of Homeland Security inspector general's report concluding that container information supplied to the Automated Targeting System, which seeks to identify high-risk cargo and requires manifests 24 hours before a ship's departure, was insufficient and that "physical control over high-risk containers needed improvement."

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