"Screening air cargo"

Friday, August 8, 2003

Screening air cargo  
The Boston (MA) Globe

 
Airline passengers get screened. Their carry-on bags and checked baggage get
screened. But commercial cargo in the holds of passenger planes does not get
screened, and the Bush administration is fighting an attempt by Congress to
do something about this. Welcome to the Alice-in-Wonderland world of airline
security.

A captured Al Qaeda operative has revealed that the terrorist group is
interested in exploiting the huge gap in airline safety represented by
unscreened commercial cargo, according to Representative Edward Markey of
Malden, Massachusetts. Markey is sponsoring an amendment that would require
automated or manual screening of cargo before it went into the holds of
passenger planes.

Some goods are now screened, but the Homeland Security Department's only
protection for the bulk of the material is something called the known
shipper program. Airlines are not supposed to accept cargo from shippers
with whom they do not have a past relationship. But there is nothing to stop
Al Qaeda from infiltrating a "known shipper" with one of its agents. The
House approved Markey's amendment, 278 to 146. After lobbying by shippers
and the administration, the Senate did not approve any equivalent measure.

With mandatory screening, airlines would lose some of the $3 billion they
earn by carrying commercial cargo. But the airlines - and the United States
as a whole - stand to lose far more if terrorists take advantage of this
weak spot in airline security. Members of a House-Senate conference
committee will soon be scrutinizing Homeland Security's budget. They should
insist on keeping Markey's amendment.


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