Sat, Sep 08, 2007
Lawmaker Concerned About 'Trust-But-Don't-Verify' Security
Loopholes
Representative Edward
J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Homeland Security
Committee, responded Thursday to the release of a July report
prepared by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector
General, Richard L. Skinner. The report identified dangerous
security gaps in the policies DHS uses to ensure the safety of
commercial cargo carried on passenger planes.
"This report is a scathing indictment of the Department of
Homeland Security's current policies for verifying that bombs,
explosives and other dangerous items are not slipped into cargo
containers carried in the belly of a passenger plane," Rep. Markey
said. "The Department's own Inspector General has confirmed
concerns I have repeatedly raised about dangerous cargo security
loopholes, including the failure of the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) to ensure that air carriers are complying with
screening requirements and TSA's reliance on paper records rather
than physical examinations of cargo," Markey said.
In the report, "Transportation Security Administration's
Oversight of Passenger Aircraft Cargo Security Faces Significant
Challenges", the DHS Inspector General concluded:
- "The TSA's inspection process may not accurately
represent the extent to which air carriers comply with cargo
screening requirements."
- "The current level of oversight does not provide assurance that
air carriers are meeting congressionally-mandated goals of tripling
the amount of cargo screened for passenger
aircraft…Consequently, the process increases opportunities
for the carriage of explosives, incendiaries, and other dangerous
devices on passenger aircraft."
- "TSA information reported to the Congress regarding air carrier
compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements may be
inaccurate."
- "TSA's security programs are not clearly written, allowing ASIs
(TSA's Aviation Security Inspectors) and air carriers to interpret
and apply the regulations differently."
Markey is the primary
author of the air cargo provision included in Public Law 110-53,
the law to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission,
which requires -- within three years -- the screening of all cargo
carried on passenger planes at a level of security commensurate to
the security applied to airline passengers' checked bags, according
to a statement by the lawmaker.
"As TSA develops the system to screen all the cargo carried on
passenger planes, I am extremely concerned that some of the same
weaknesses exposed by the Department's Inspector General could
undermine the new system's effectiveness. I am particularly
troubled that a so-called 'Certified Shipper' program being
developed by TSA could be plagued by the same type of
'trust-but-don't-verify' security loopholes uncovered in today's
report," he said.
"I will be closely monitoring TSA's implementation of the new
100 percent cargo screening requirements."
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