DHS nixes 100%-inspection rule for inbound cargo
DHS nixes 100%-inspection rule for inbound cargo

Federal agency 'no longer pursuing' plans to monitor incoming shipments

Published: 40 mins ago



The Government Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said that the DHS is nowhere close to complying with a requirement that, by July, all U.S.-bound cargo must be routinely scanned for nuclear and radiological materials and other components to make weapons of mass destruction.
According to Judicial Watch, DHS has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on questionable systems that couldn’t do the scanning.

In one case, DHS spent $200 million on 1,400 radiation portal monitors but had to stop using them since they didn’t do the job.

Ten years ago, the 9/11 Commission made a recommendation for 100-percent compliance by July 2012. The requirement was incorporated into the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007.
Within the DHS, Customs and Border Protection implements container security.

“Uncertainty persists over how DHS and CBP will fulfill the mandate for 100-percent scanning given that the feasibility remains unproven in light of the challenges CBP has faced implementing a pilot program for 100 percent scanning,” GAO said.
In attempting to determine whether 100-percent scanning was feasible, GAO had asked DHS to undertake such a study, but to date that hasn’t happened.

CBP informed GAO that it has not conducted such an assessment or identified alternatives and is “no longer pursuing efforts to implement 100 percent scanning,” a development that could place the nation’s security at serious risk. Out of nine foreign and domestic ports that were supposed to be involved in the 100-percent compliance study, any DHS testing was limited to just one port.

DHS has informed GAO that it will not be able to meet the 9/11 Act’s July 2012 deadline for implementing the 100-percent scanning requirement and wants to extend the requirement to include foreign ports for compliance until July 2014.
For the rest of this report and other Intelligence Briefs, please go to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin: