Cargo securityGAO: CBP's shipping security analysis should be improved
The Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements call for collection of ten pieces of information on U.S.-bound cargo containers, including their country of origin, and two additional pieces of information on ships carrying the cargo; the GAO says that a Customs and Border Protection assessment of the requirements fails to specify why the federal office had chosen to collect the specific pieces of information over other proposals considered
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) should establish a time line for determining how to assess potential threats posed by the contents of U.S.-bound cargo containers using data collected on individual containers since January, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded in a report made public Tuesday.
The Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements call for collection of ten pieces of information on U.S.-bound cargo containers, including their country of origin, and two additional pieces of information on ships carrying the cargo. The regulation, referred to as the “10+2 rule,” was put in place to meet a congressional mandate that additional cargo data cargo be collected to help prevent illicit transfers of weapons of mass destruction and other controlled materials.
Global Security News Wire reports that roughly 80 percent of shipments were meeting the new data collection requirements as of July, and most shipping firms had provided “stow plans” outlining the placement of individual cargo containers on vessels, congressional investigators said in the report.
A Customs and Border Protection assessment of the requirements, though, fails to specify why the federal office had chosen to collect the specific pieces of information over other proposals considered, the report states.
“The 10+2 rule data elements are available for identifying high-risk cargo, but CBP has not finalized its national security targeting criteria to include these additional data elements to support high-risk targeting,” according to congressional auditors.
“If, as CBP officials stated, an update might be published in the future, greater transparency could help justify the scope of alternatives analyzed in the regulatory assessment and provide insight into CBP’s decision-making,” says the document.
Investigators recommended “that CBP should, if it updates its regulatory assessment, include information to improve transparency and completeness, and set time frames and milestones for updating its national security targeting criteria,” the report says. DHS “concurred with these recommendations” (U.S. Government Accountability Office release).
