DHS' Office of Inspector General Issues Report on ATS Targeting of Oceangoing Cargo Containers
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS') Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has posted to its Web site an unclassified summary of its official report entitled "Audit of Targeting Oceangoing Cargo Containers." This report assesses the Automated Targeting System (ATS), which is used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors at domestic and selected foreign ports to help select intermodal cargo containers for inspection.
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(According to various press reports, ATS is a rules-based computer system that screens cargo data to identify high-risk containers, which are then examined. Press reports indicate that under ATS, only 5.4% of containers are scanned.)
According to DHS, this audit was performed in response to section 809(g) of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 (Public Law (P.L.) 108-293), which requires DHS to evaluate and report annually on the effectiveness of the cargo inspection targeting system for international intermodal cargo containers.
OIG finds overseas segment of supply chain is most problematic. The OIG notes that of the three major segments of the supply chain relative to oceangoing containers (overseas; transit at sea; and U.S. ports), the overseas segment is the most problematic since it includes all initial handling and movement of the containers from the loading of the container (stuffing) to placing the container on board a U.S. bound vessel, and is outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.
OIG recommends improvement to data to which ATS targeting rules are applied, etc. The OIG states that it concluded that improvements were needed in the data to which ATS targeting rules are applied, and the use of examination results to refine the ATS targeting rules. The OIG notes that physical controls over containers selected for examination also needed improvement. According to the OIG, it made several recommendations for improvement and CBP concurred with all of its recommendations.
Press reports on ICIS as an alternative that provides 100% scanning. In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal reported on the Hong Kong Terminal Operators Association test of the Integrated Container Inspection System (ICIS) as an alternative to ATS' "risk based" strategy. ICIS provides gamma ray, optical character recognition, and radiation scanning of every container and could pass those images and container tracking codes to customs services in other cities to help them identify suspicious cargo before it get s loaded onto a ship, etc.
Unclassified summary of OIG report (OIG-05-26, dated 07/05) available at http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/OIG_05-26_Jun05.pdf.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) on ICIS (dated September 2004) available at http://www.saic.com/products/transportation/icis/ICIS_FAQ_101504.pdf.
Wall Street Journal article, dated 07/29/05, www.wsj.com.