By Calvin Biesecker
There are vulnerabilities in the procedures that airlines and cargo screening facilities are using to screen air cargo that is loaded onto passenger aircraft for explosives, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Inspector General (IG) reports.
“We identified vulnerabilities in the cargo screening procedures employed by air carriers and cargo screening facilities to detect and prevent explosives from being shipped in air cargo transported on passenger aircraft,” says an unclassified summary of the report, Evaluation of Screening of Air Cargo Transported on Passenger Aircraft (OIG-10- 119), which was released yesterday.
The report adds that based on testing by the IG, five recommendations were made to the Transportation Security Administration to improve the screening measures and prevent explosives from being hidden in air cargo.
For the audit, the IG evaluated the effectiveness of three cargo screening modes. One is explosives trace detection systems, which typically are used as a secondary inspection technique to screen carry-on bags at passenger checkpoints and checked baggage.
The IG also evaluated X-ray systems, which are typically found at aviation security checkpoints for primary screening of carry-on bags. The third mode evaluated physical screening, which involves opening a package or crate to examine the contents to ensure that an explosive device hasn’t been introduced.
The specific audit results, including the identified vulnerabilities and recommendations, were not included in the publicly released version of the report. The IG says it conducted tests at nine airports based on the high volume of air cargo carried on passenger planes to conduct its tests, which also included entities in TSA’s Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP).
TSA established the CCSP several years ago in response to the congressional-mandate that 100 percent of all air cargo being loaded on passenger planes taking off from airports in the United States be screened for explosives by Aug. 1, 2010. TSA met that mandate through the CCSP program, which currently has over 1,000 voluntary participants, mostly freight forwarders and shippers, but also entities that have set up shop as third party screeners.
CCSP allows TSA to push screening throughout the supply chain, limiting the amount that air carriers would have to do if all the screening fell to them, which would create bottlenecks and delays in shipments. Carriers have always done some screening, although the required amounts are classified.
TSA is working towards 100 percent of screening of air cargo on international flights bound for the United States.
In response to the audit, the IG says that TSA is considering the results as it continues to improve ways to screen air cargo.
“The agency acknowledged that improvements can be made in the air cargo screening process to prevent the introduction of explosives into air cargo on passenger aircraft,” the audit says.
As with the results of the audit, details of TSA’s response were excluded from the unclassified summary.