GAO Inquiry finds Port Security Lacking
May 27, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
By Mike Nizza | Source: New York Times
The attacks of Sept. 11 transformed ports of entry into points of anxiety, but the job itself didn’t get any easier — just as illegal drugs slipped through loopholes, so did potential security threats. While no attacks have originated at the ports, reminders that they are vulnerable are frequent — from the Sept. 11 Commission’s final report to the uproar over a proposal to allow a Dubai company manage some operations at U.S. ports.
Today’s reminder is from the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress that studied one important part of port security known as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). In exchange for lighter — and faster — scrutiny at U.S. ports, the federal incentive program requires companies shipping cargo from overseas to follow a list of security precautions.
Unfortunately, those protocols are not being faithfully followed abroad, opening the door to terrorists, the study concluded.
Read full story, download PDF of GAO report, at the New York Times >>
