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Subscribe to RSSNearly five years after the 9/11 Commission Act recommended that 100 percent of cargo aboard passenger planes be screened, The Transportation Security Administration has announced a deadline to meet the requirement.
TSA on Wednesday set Dec. 3, 2012, as the mark for carriers to conduct full cargo screening on international flights bound for the United States. As of that date, all cargo on international flights must undergo screening for explosives, TSA said in a press release.
The system adds additional “risk-based, intelligence-driven procedures,” before items are shipped and “enhanced screening” for shipments designated at a higher risk, TSA said.
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“Harmonizing security efforts with our international and industry partners is a vital step in securing the global supply chain,” TSA Administrator John S. Pistole said in a news release announcing the deadline. “By making greater use of intelligence, TSA can strengthen screening processes and ensure the screening of all cargo shipments without impeding the flow of commerce.”
Air carriers often transport commercial items in their jets' cargo holds. On larger planes, numerous containers sealed by the shipper -- roughly the size of a Volkswagen beetle -- fill up the space.
The nation's 15 largest airlines were on time 84 percent from January through March of this year according to new data from the Transportation Department. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Douglas R. Laird, president of Laird & Associates, Inc., an aviation security consulting firm, says just because 100 percent of cargo is screened doesn’t mean that nothing could slip through detection.
“That sounds good on its face, but there really is no good technology to fully screen some of the larger cargo, like containers,” Laird told msnbc.com, noting that the newest computerized machines are good at sniffing out potential explosives in suitcases and packages, but aren't useful on such cargo as containers and and other big items like high-end cars that end up on airplanes.
Risk-based intelligence, he explained, is essentially profiling the shipper to determine whether that company or individual poses a potential risk. A terrorist, however, could try to target a shipping company by getting a job there.
“Everyone want’s 100 percent, but the only problem is there is no such thing as 100 percent,” he said.
State Department has no set standards for countries placed on warning list. KNTV's Elyce Kirchner reports.
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Now there's an oxymoron if I ever saw one!
Get away with stealing pocket change - the thrill wears off & you escalate to going for the cash register.
How about banning such "unscreenable" cargo from passenger planes? Given the humiliation to which us passengers are being subjected, deeming *any* unscreened cargo as low-risk seems a bit surreal.
Don't worry. I'm from the government, and I'm here to protect you.
So let me get this straight... we've been taking off our shoes, little old ladies w/ colostomy bags are getting patted down, 4 year olds are being patted down, yet we're not screening the cargo put on passenger planes for explosives? TSA is a joke, a circus show for the masses.
Hey Ron, re-read the article from start to finish, and take your time to understand what the article stated, slowly, before you make such vapid, and inane [e.g. moronic] statements like the one you posted.
Govt. worker if you are defending this FARCE then please schedule getting your head examined..... Too many of our Men and Women have FOUGHT and DIED to Protect Our Rights for this FARCE To Continue..... That is not counting the TIME and MONEY WAISTED..... The only thing this is helping is keeping a large group of people off the Unemployment Line.....
Of course they would want to do this as then they can add another 50,000 useless employees paid by the already broke taxpayer.
TSA is for the new white terrorist, the american citizens for prison training. Why we let them violate our 4th amendment rights for illegal search and sea sure and jurist prudence is beyond me.
Even China or the Soviet Union were not this bad in comparison. But fear sells and makes money..
Don't they mean "100 percent STEALING of cargo"
YES YES all the Peon Travelers believe this CRAP! Brought to you By The BIGGEST,LYING SACKS OF SH IT ON THE PLANET The SS TSA!
Wait till you peons see what else this PARASITIC GARBAGE TRASH has got laid out for you!You know since all of the Bull Sh it propaganda about the Phantom Terrorist's underwear ,brought to you by the So Called US Gestapo Government! GOTTA KEEP THAT PARANOIA AND FEAR GOING YOU KNOW!
I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see the look on these peons faces when this Crap comes into play by these low life bottom of the barrel criminals!
PRICELESS!
what about the cargo ships??? Or doesn't the 'authority' want to stop all the afghani heroin coming in???
So, just how does the TSA propose to screen ALL inbound flights from all 1742 airports that provide direct flights into the US? Maybe they plan to "screen" the cargo after it gets here, because they cannot possibly do it before it leaves its originating airport. The US does not have the authority to do that in all the foreign countries that have flights to this country. Are they smoking something the rest of us can't get?
The TSA has no problem about going through checked luggage so why do they have a problem going through shipping containers. If they destroy someones suitcase checking to see what can be stolen why can't they do the same thing to cargo or are they paid off not to.