Although airline security measures have been tightened for passengers, the inspection program for cargo remains woefully inadequate.
So says the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security in a report highly critical of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which it oversees.
The report, made public only a month after Congress called for better cargo screening by the TSA, says most of the 7,500 tons of cargo carried by passenger planes goes uninspected.
Much of it arrives at airports in gigantic shrink-wrapped packages too big for bomb detectors and often avoids personal inspection because there arent enough TSA inspectors to handle the job, according to the report.
The agency has 300 cargo inspectors but plans to increase that number by 50 per cent over the next two years. Training programs for inspectors will also be upgraded, the TSA says.
Cargo is carried on passenger planes because it brings in big bucks for beleaguered carriers. Airlines earned nearly $4.5 million from cargo operations last year, according to the Air Transport Association, an industry trade group.
The Homeland Security report scored the TSA for "vague regulations" regarding cargo screening, improper training, differences with airlines in interpreting written rules, and insufficient staffing of cargo inspectors. It also fingered seven areas that needed improvement when the report was submitted to the TSA for internal review four months ago.
Only one of the seven has been fixed since the report was sent to the TSA in May, according to Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner.
One thing that could improve the overtaxed cargo inspection system is creation of a "certified shipper" program, an idea similar to the registered traveler program for passengers.
Manufacturers who pass background checks would be approved to do their own inspections and have their cargo move their airports without stopping for inspection. That concept, created by the Dept. of Homeland Security, is now in the developmental process.
Cargo bombs have not been a favored terrorist weapon because shipped freight could wind up on a cargo plane as easily as a passenger plane. But the fact remains that all planes are at risk until cargo inspection improves.
