DHS detailed study finds many problems in securing containers arriving in U.S. ports

Published 13 March 2006

A $75 million, three-year study by DHS found that lapses by private port operators, shipping lines, and truck drivers could allow terrorists to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States. The study, called “Operation Safe Commerce,” found that cargo containers can be opened secretly during shipment to add or remove items without alerting U.S. authorities. The study found serious lapses by private companies at foreign and American ports, aboard ships, and on trucks and trains “that would enable unmanifested materials or weapons of mass destruction to be introduced into the supply chain.”

The study will be completed this fall. It used satellites and other monitoring systems to track some 20,000 cargo containers out of the millions arriving each year at U.S. ports from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Most containers are sealed with mechanical bolts which can be cut and replaced or have doors that can be removed by dismantling hinges. Among the study’s findings:

Some U.S. ports received lower grades on security than ports in Pakistan, Turkey, or Brazil

No records were kept of “cursory” inspections in Guatemala for containers filled with Starbucks coffee beans shipped to the West Coast

Truck drivers in Brazil were permitted to take cargo containers home overnight and park along public streets. Trains in the U.S. stopped in rail yards that did not have fences and were in high-crime areas

Practices at Turkey’s Port of Izmir were “totally inadequate by U.S. standards”

Containers could be opened aboard some ships during weeks-long voyages to America (last week we wrote that the collapse of the U.S. flag merchant fleet, and the fact that most of the merchandise now being brought to the United States - including sensitive and hazardous materials - is now carried abroad foreign ships with non-U.S. crews was posing a security risk which many overlook. The DHS study agrees: “Due to the time involved in transit (and) the fact that most vessel crew members are foreigners with limited credentialing and vetting, the containers are vulnerable to intrusion during the ocean voyage,” the study said)

Some governments will not help tighten security because they view terrorism as an American problem.

Current technology for detection of smuggled nuclear materials has frustrated port officials because bananas, kitty litter, and fire detectors — all emitting natural radiation — set off the same alarms hundreds of times a day

The study applauded efforts to install radiation monitors overseas

Finding biological and chemical weapons inside cargo containers is less likely. The study said tests were “labor intensive, time-consuming and costly to use” and produced too many false alarms. “No silver bullet has emerged to render terrorists incapable of introducing WMD into containers”

The lengthy study has been beset by problems. Japan refused to allow officials to attach tracking devices to containers destined for the United States. Other tracking devices sometimes failed. Many shipping companies refused to disclose information for competitive reasons.

-read more in this AP report