Posted on 04/23/2006 1:40:37 PM PDT by phantomworker
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. has developed a sophisticated system of nets to catch dangerous foreign cargo before it gets into the U.S.
The problem, critics say, is that the nets are full of holes.
Those holes allowed a cargo container holding 22 Chinese stowaways to land April 4 at the Port of Seattle, unloaded from the M/V Rotterdam.
The container likely would have sat for several days before anyone inspected it, said Mike Milne, a Seattle spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency in charge of such inspections.
Of course, long before that, in the early-morning darkness, the stowaways crept out into the orange floodlights of the Terminal 18 dock, where they were seen by a private security guard and apprehended.
Security officials call the capture a success because CBP had singled out the container for further scrutiny before it would be moved from the Port.
"This one was initially set up for an [X-ray type scanning] exam sometime during the next two or three days following its arrival, which is a standard time frame for containers," Milne said.
"We didn't let that container through," Milne said. "If it hadn't been set aside by CBP, the container would have been down the road."
Critics, however, say leaving a container with unknown cargo at a U.S. terminal for several days shows the system isn't secure.
"Imagine this being a dirty bomb," said Shay Hancock, an aide to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "It's a little too late to find out about that when it comes into the Port of Seattle."
Murray and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have sponsored a bill that would toughen port security, including putting more scanners overseas.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
The problem is the people managing the ports have other things besides security on their minds.
Nets hell, looks like a sieve to me.
"ID system could cause port delays
Cargo officials say developing a security plan could create a worker shortage by barring illegals and felons."
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/2677166.html?page=1&c=y
Thanks for the reference. Good article:
"The openness of our ports ... is one of the tremendous marks of success in this global economy, but it also provides an opportunity for terror," said Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., who is sponsoring port security legislation with Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo. "We ought to limit (access) to people who are here legally. We ought to limit it to people who would not jeopardize that security."
Put the x-ray machines or whatever they are on the crane itself. Every high risk container that comes off the ship gets inspected before it hits the pavement.
Agree. It should have the same priority as x-ray machines at our other port authorities (the airports).
If U.S. government from local to Federal cared a whit about national security, these things would not stand a chance of happening. The Seattle incident happened nearly two weeks ago, and is likely still happening. We are not getting what we pay for, folks!
Well, put the containers [all of them] on a belt and get them by a bunch of cobalt-60 "pencils". If the gamma dose is high enough, then all the illegal stowaways and other pests and invasive species will be at least sterilized, if not killed outright.
LOL! Well, that might be one way to do it... ;)
I wonder if the powerful long-shoreman's union has anything to do with that? If it does, it shouldn't.
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