In one of his campaign speeches in October of 2004, Senator Kerry, the Democratic presidential hopeful, accused the Bush administration of settling for a security policy that allegedly screened only 5% of the cargo coming into U.S. ports. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner took Senator Kerry to task and claimed that “… we do a risk assessment of every container that’s heading to the United States … The containers we identify, 100% of them are inspected using large-scale x-ray machines and radiation detection equipment. We have implemented CSI (Container Security Initiative) to be able to screen the highest risk containers before they leave the foreign port”. That was the comment from Commissioner Bonner more than a year ago and with that kind of an assurance straight from the horse’s mouth, we have nothing more to worry about. Right? [Can you spell ‘spinnage’? Read some of what showed up in last week’s news reports.]

• From “The Record”, Hackensack, NJ – November 20 — “Federal authorities will soon bring online 12 new gates that can detect whether a container passing through has nuclear material inside, closing a gap in port security that allows such materials to enter the United States. The detectors are the latest in a series of measures introduced by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to tighten port security since 9/11 ….Critics, however, say the department’s strategy is still lacking … P. J. Crowley, a homeland security expert at a Washington, D.C., public policy agency, said a more technologically advanced system is needed, as well as a more secure computer system … ‘A terrorist can go into the computer, make a suspect shipment into a more conforming shipment, and then the odds are they won’t inspect the box,’ he said. What’s needed, he said, is a vigorous push to develop technology that would do a gamma-ray search of all containers, not just a small percentage.”

• From Tom Andel’s “packaging-online”– November 26 — In the words of an assistant special agent for the Department of Homeland Security, “One of the greatest threats to all trading partners and to the U.S. is the potential for terrorists to use the international container system to smuggle weapons or even terrorist operatives into the country. They could even turn cargo containers into weapons. If even a single one of those containers goes off, the destruction to trade and the economies of the world would be enormous. … Every U.S. seaport would close for more than a week … The backlog of container traffic would require 92 days to clear … The Dow would drop at least 500 points and cost the U.S. economy $ 58 billion … A terrorist attack in a U.S. port would spread economic ripples around the world …”

• From the Bloomberg report on November 23 – “China has agreed to install detectors at its ports in an attempt to thwart the smuggling of nuclear materials, according to the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington. The agreement, signed by U.S. and Chinese officials this past weekend while president George W. Bush was in Beijing, is part of a U.S. program aimed at helping foreign countries stop illicit maritime nuclear shipments. The U.S. agency described the accord on its Web site dated yesterday.”

[Yesterday? Didn’t Commissioner Bonner assure us last year that this was already a done deal?]