Government Ignores Cargo Scanning Law, Port Operator Says
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By Austin Wright and Stew Magnuson
The Department of Homeland Security is ignoring a law that calls on it to monitor, by 2012, every container that enters a U.S. port, an executive at one of the world’s leading port-operating companies charged. The United States is opening itself up to a nuclear attack or economic catastrophe, he said.
“The vulnerabilities are as great as they’ve ever been,” said Gary Gilbert, senior vice president of Hutchison Port Holdings, at a National Defense Industrial Association homeland security conference. “We’ve got all these containers going around. We don’t know where they are, and we don’t know where they’ve been.”
In 2006, Congress passed the Safe Port Act, which directs Customs and Border Protection to implement a program that would screen for radiation and contraband every container entering the country. In 2007, Congress passed the 9/11 Commission Act, which set a 2012 deadline for the department to put the program in place. The law, however, allows the department to apply for two-year deadline extensions. CBP, under the Bush administration, made no secret that it opposed the congressional mandate.
“We have a law on the books, and nobody gives a rat’s,” Gilbert said. “And as a leader in the industry, my company is very concerned. What happens if we have a calamity in a container?”
If nuclear materials were discovered in a cargo shipment, it would cause severe damage to the world economy, he added. Every container in the world would be suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction, which would shut down global trade. The United States could prevent such a disaster by mandating that shipping companies employ scanning equipment, Gilbert added.
Who should pay for the screening at the approximately 700 worldwide ports is unsettled. Port facilities, foreign governments, U.S. taxpayers, or as Gilbert proposed, shipping companies, will have to foot the bill.
Sam Banks, executive vice president at Sandler and Travis Trade Advisory Services and a former CBP deputy commissioner, echoed Gilbert’s claims. “They’re not ignoring the 100 percent scanning law — they’re just not doing it.”
Matthew Chandler, acting DHS press secretary, said: “DHS remains confident that data produced by scanning systems can enhance the security of containers as they transit through the global supply chain to the UnitedStates. However, DHS has encountered complex logistical, diplomatic, fiscal, and technical challenges that will render 100 percent scanning difficult to achieve by 2012."