Six foreign ports to scan cargo for nuclear devices

The Energy and Homeland Security departments on Thursday announced that new cargo-detection equipment will be installed at six foreign seaports to scan U.S.-bound containers for weapons of mass destruction. The goal is to meet, and even exceed, congressional requirements.

Under the Secure Freight Initiative, detection equipment will be installed at Puerto Cortes in Honduras, Port Qasim in Pakistan, and Southampton in the United Kingdom. All U.S.-bound cargo originating from those ports will be scanned by a radiation-detection system and X-ray machine, and have their identification numbers read by an optical character reader.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said doing so will meet a mandate from Congress in a port security bill cleared two months ago. It requires that all U.S.-bound cargo at three foreign ports be scanned.

"Our highest priority and greatest sense of urgency has to be aimed at preventing a nuclear weapon or dirty-bomb attack against the homeland," Chertoff said. "This initiative advances a comprehensive strategy to secure the global supply chain and cut off any possibility of exploitation by terrorists." A dirty bomb is a small, nontraditional nuclear device.

Chertoff said the department would go beyond the congressional mandate by also installing radiation detection and X-ray scanners at three other ports: the Gamman Terminal at Port Busan in South Korea, Port Salalah in Oman, and the Port of Singapore. Only a portion of containers at those three ports will be run through some screening lanes equipped with the technology.

The new detection equipment will become operational at the ports in Honduras and Pakistan in February, followed by Southhampton in June or July. Equipment will be deployed to the remaining three ports late in 2007.

Chertoff said the data on each container will be sent electronically to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, who will decide whether it needs to be inspected further. "We will not outsource our security," he said. "In the end, the go-no decision rests with our guys sitting in a CBP office."

Local law enforcement at each port would be responsible for doing further inspections. The two departments plan to spend $60 million for deploying the equipment to the six ports.

Once the scanning equipment is deployed at all six ports, a total of 7 percent of all U.S.-bound cargo will be scanned for weapons of mass destruction, Chertoff said.

Some Democrats in Congress have supported a mandate that would require Homeland Security to ensure that all U.S.-bound cargo is scanned for weapons of mass destruction within five years. Chertoff said meeting any such mandate would require reaching agreements with foreign governments.

"It's going to take foreign governments to agree to this," he said. "I certainly don't want to have the United States appear to be bullies."

It was not immediately clear how the Energy and Homeland Security departments would select which companies provide technology under the initiative.