19 January 2005

TSA to apply CBP cargo lessons to domestic security

The following article is excerpted from the 19 January 2005 edition of “American Shipper”.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun to expand its cargo security strategy beyond weeding out high-risk international shipments to include a domestic component designed to provide comprehensive supply chain security from point of origin to final destination.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is developing domestic security policies to prevent truck, rail, barge or air modes of transport within the United States from being used to attack critical transport networks or transfer a mass destruction weapon to high-value targets, and is taking its cues from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to DHS officials.

There is no comprehensive plan for how to monitor and protect cargo once it leaves the port. TSA's role will be to develop security procedures, guidelines and regulations that interface with existing ocean and cross-border security programs managed by CBP. Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, international shippers and carriers have had to provide more advance data about their shipments and take other precautions to ensure the integrity of their containers.

The TSA will "either try to piggyback on those requirements" or make new rules that fit with the existing regime, said Elaine Dezenski, a DHS deputy assistant secretary for border and transportation security….

CBP's authority to monitor and track shipments ends at the border, but TSA will likely follow the CBP approach of using commercial shipping information to identify potential threats, a TSA official said last week during CBP's Customs Trade Symposium in Washington.

"CBP has some excellent tools that we need to leverage to make sure information we have on the domestic side can be accessed," the official said. "We want to use the same risk factors and algorithms" for automated targeting of shipments as CBP uses for international shipments, he said.

The International Trade Data System being developed by CBP as part of its computer modernization program will serve as a single window for companies engaged in international trade to share data with multiple government agencies, allowing for an integrated information system for supply chain awareness, the TSA official said.

Until now, the import-export community has been apprehensive about how TSA would exert its authority over all transportation modes, and whether it would roll back or duplicate well-received CBP programs, requiring industry to establish redundant reporting systems. TSA's focus since its creation after 9/11 has been aviation security, primarily passenger travel. The pronouncements indicate DHS plans to rely on CBP's expertise managing cargo security programs.

DHS Deputy Secretary James Loy said during last week's CBP conference for the trade community that President Bush signed a presidential directive in December instructing federal agencies with a role in maritime security to establish a committee to coordinate intelligence, policies and programs, according to a copy of his prepared remarks posted Tuesday on the DHS Web site. The president also ordered the preparation of a national maritime security strategy, a prescription also included in the intelligence reform bill passed by Congress in early December.

Dezenski said the department plans to issue its national cargo security strategy in four to six weeks. The coordinated strategy lays out the department's objectives to reduce the terrorist threat through risk management, private sector standards and best practices and international cooperation on common inspection processes. It was first presented in draft form to trade industry officials in mid-December for their feedback.

One area of consensus within DHS involves the need for a more secure container seal for international shipments. Dezenski said she expected the department this year to require the seals be placed on all containers at the point of packing.