Legislation introduced yesterday by two senators extends key provisions of the 2005 Safe Port Security Act, although it eliminates one key mandate, a 2012 deadline requiring the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that 100 percent of all maritime containers are screened by X-ray systems before departing a foreign port for the United States.
Instead, the SAFE Port Act for 2011 calls for the Secretary of Homeland Security to certify the “effectiveness of individual security measures” of the layered security approach that currently exists to protect the homeland from shipping containers being used to deliver weapons of mass destruction. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), one of the co-authors of the bill, said. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also co-authored the new legislation.
“Until X-ray scanning technology is proven effective at detecting radiological material and not disruptive of trade. Requiring the X-raying of all U.S. bound cargo, regardless of its risk, at every foreign port, is misguided and provides a false sense of security,” Collins said on the Senate floor. “It would also impose onerous restrictions on the flow of commerce, costing billions with little additional security benefit.”
Among other things, the new SAFE Port Act would reauthorize several layers of security called for in the original bill for maritime cargo security. These include the Automated Targeting System used by Customs and Border Protection to identity high-risk cargo, the Container Security Initiative to ensure that high-risk cargo is inspected at overseas ports before shipment to the United States, and the voluntary Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism that provides incentives to importers for improving the security of cargo throughout the supply chain.