Homeland Security

DATE=10/5/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SECURITY/ SHIPPING (L-O)

NUMBER=2-319441

BYLINE=KERRY SHERIDAN

DATELINE=NEW YORK

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Security Experts Say Failure to Inspect Cargo Threatens Global Trade

INTRO: Most of the world's goods are moved by ship, but only a small percent of that cargo is inspected for possible bombs or chemical weapons. Despite recent efforts to improve screening at ports in the United States and around the world, several public and private sector experts say serious problems remain in the supply chain, leaving global trade wide open to potential acts of terror. Kerry Sheridan reports from VOA's New York Bureau.

TEXT: Stephen Flynn is the author of a new book called "America the Vulnerable: How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism." He says terrorist networks such as al-Qaida are determined to strike the modern world by upsetting global commerce. Mr. Flynn says that's why government and business leaders need a new approach to protecting the way goods are shipped across international borders.

/// FLYNN ACT ///

"The systems are incredibly vulnerable and they are incredibly valuable, and they are the global networks that underpin basically the generation of wealth that we have under way on the planet. It may be unequal but this is the engine of that growth. And it is also the engine that underpins U.S. power."

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Experts call the process of shipping goods "the supply chain." Products typically go from a warehouse, to a truck, to a port, where they are loaded onto a ship and sent to their destination. But goods are added and taken off on many stops along the way, sometimes in different countries. Many people have access to the contents of any given shipment.

Last month, the U.S. Customs Service launched a voluntary screening program, in which the U.S. government can ask cargo shippers to verify the contents of containers 24 hours before they go to sea. The program intends to tighten security at ports outside the United States and, thereby, lower the risk of a terrorist explosion at American harbors.

Peter Tirschwell is the editor of The Journal of Commerce, which recently surveyed 650 people closely involved with shipping international goods. He says they believe the biggest security gaps occur long before the shipment reaches the port of origin.

/// TIRSCHNELL ACT ///

"The most significant concern about international containers is what is occurring to these containers prior to them being loaded on ships at foreign ports? What is happening in the area of loading? Once the container has been loaded put on a truck and taken to the seaport, where has it gone? What is happening during that process?"

/// END ACT ///

Some private companies are trying to create tracking systems that will record every move a shipment makes. Others are focusing on radio technology that can detect the identity of a package. Most are relying on government grants to pay for the increased security measures.

Elaine Dezenski handles cargo and trade policy at the Department of Homeland Security. She says the government has already spent half a billion dollars to beef up security at ports and create safer trade. Her priority, she says, is assessing where the gravest threats lie, and determining how to protect against weapons of mass destruction.

/// DEZENSKI ACT ///

"It is certainly easy to have the thirty-second sound bite to say 'We simply have to physically inspect every container,' but you don't have to dig too far into the dynamics of the supply chain to see it is simply not possible to do that."

/// END ACT ///

Ms. Dezenski says the Department of Homeland Security aims to install radiation detectors at every port in the world to try and prevent the transport of nuclear weapons. (Signed)

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