CBS exposes cargo security weakness with a dummy bomb

Published 26 October 2006

Known Shipper program failed to prevent an unknown television producer from transporting a lead-line case in the hold of an American airlines flight; CBS was even able to dictate which flight would carry the cargo; although the box was invulnerable to canine or mechanical inspection, nobody tried to open it

Even before 9/11, a common media stunt was to test airport security measures. We recall a 60 Minutes expose from the mid 1990s, in which producers succesfully transported an undisguised dummy bomb in their checked luggage. At the time it seemed scandalous that such a thing could occur, but this was long before the post 9/11 effort to ensure comprehensive luggage screening. CBS News followed up last week with a report on how the organization was able to do something similar with air cargo, and once again the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is left with egg on its face.

According to TSA, more than six billion pounds of cargo are shipped annually within the United States on passenger aircraft, with only 15 percent if it subject to inspection by canine teams or mechanical inspection (some critics put the number as low as 5 percent). Total spending on cargo security is $55 million — including funding operational programs such as Known Shipper Management System, Indirect Air Carrier Management System, and Freight Assessment System, as well as personnel costs for 300 dedicated cargo inspectors (the cost of feeding the German shepherds is marginal). Compared to other programs, $55 million is not on its face impressive, and neither is the 15 percent inspection rate, but current technology makes 100 percent screening impossible.

Nevertheless, the risk of a bomb being transported in this fashion is quite high. Although under the Known Shipper program, those wishing to ship on a commercial carrier must undergo background screening, CBS demonstrated that any person could ship a package on a commercial flight with little more than a photo identification card, and could do so at the last minute if he so pleased. Most disturbing of all, and this was not supposed to be, CBS showed that a shipper could even decide exactly which flight would carry his package, rather than simply accept the shipping company’s promise that it would arrive at a certain date and time.

In the CBS experiment, a producer asked a shipping company at London’s Heathrow Airport to transport a lead-lined case so constructed as to potentially hold a bomb while being invulnerable to screening efforts. The idea was to see if officials would attempt to open the case to ascertain its contents. Similar experiments were done with flights leaving Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro, and Paris. Disturbingly, only the package sent from Rio was opened. “I think you’re not accurately representing — the — levels of explosive detection that we have in place,” said Robert Jamison, second-in-command at the TSA, after CBS confronted him with the data. CBS stands by its approach, and so do we. Cargo security remains one of the biggest loopholes in American security policy, and sometimes an agency needs a kick in the pants and a bit of public embarassment to pull itself together.

-read more in this CBS report