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27 April 2006

Port Security Measure Advanced by House Panel

Committee rejects requirement to inspect all containers

By Andrzej Zwaniecki
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- A House of Representatives committee approved port security legislation that would prepare U.S. ports better for potential terrorist attacks and impose sanctions on countries that do not cooperate with the U.S. government on specified cargo-security measures.

The Homeland Security Committee voted unanimously April 26 for a bill that would set up procedures for restoring port operations after a terrorist attack or other catastrophic event, require the Homeland Security Department to develop standards for container seals and codify some existing port and maritime security programs.

The bill "takes the necessary steps to secure our ports and prevent threats from ever reaching U.S. soil," said Peter King, the committee's Republican chairman.

The measure also would provide more than $7.4 billion over five years for defense of ports and maritime lanes, including equipment for the Coast Guard.

The committee adopted a Republican-backed amendment that would bar U.S. ports from accepting cargo containers from countries that do not cooperate with U.S. efforts to install nuclear and radiation detection equipment in their seaports.

It also would require the Homeland Security secretary to evaluate radiation detection technology used to inspect U.S.-bound containers at foreign seaports.

The amendment was approved following the rejection of one supported by all Democratic committee members and one Republican. That amendment, opposed by business groups as harmful to U.S. commercial interests, would have set deadlines for every incoming cargo container to be inspected for both radiation and cargo density to determine whether it poses a terrorist threat.

However, other bills moving through the House and the Senate have similar provisions. One Senate measure would give the department three months to develop a plan for full screening of every incoming cargo container.

With approval by the committee, the bill now may be considered by the full House of Representatives. For a bill to become law, identical versions must be passed by both the House and the Senate, and then signed by the president.

DIFFICULTIES WITH INSPECTING ALL CONTAINERS

U.S. officials long have opposed the idea at the center of these proposals.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that physically inspecting all 11 million containers that enter U.S. ports each year is impractical and would "make it virtually impossible to move goods into this country."

It is "like saying we ought to strip search everybody who gets on an airplane," he told reporters April 25. "I mean, in theory, that would make us very safe, but I think it would destroy the airline industry."

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection service inspects approximately 5 percent of incoming containers; less than 1 percent of all containers and about 18 percent of high-risk containers are inspected overseas, according to congressional investigators.

Chertoff said that by the end of 2006, two-thirds of incoming containers and, by the end of 2007, "virtually every container," will go through radiation portal monitors at U.S. ports.

The same day Chertoff's department unveiled the newest radiation detection equipment to be used at ports and announced background checks will be performed on nearly 400,000 port workers. (See related article.)

The transcript of the Chertoff's briefing is available on the Homeland Security Department's Web site.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)