Technology to secure ports faces Senate critique

Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday will examine what the Homeland Security Department has done to meet requirements under a maritime security law enacted one year ago this month.

Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman specifically wants to know about progress the department has made on congressional mandates to scan all cargo containers abroad and to issue biometric-based identification cards to workers at U.S. seaports, his spokeswoman said.

The committee will hear testimony from Stewart Baker, the department's top policy official, and Stephen Caldwell, the director of homeland security and justice issues at the Government Accountability Office.

A bill enacted last October requires the Customs and Border Protection bureau to evaluate the feasibility of using technology to scan all cargo containers at foreign ports before departure on U.S.-bound ships. A separate law enacted earlier this year requires CBP to scan all cargo at foreign ports by 2012.

"Our preliminary observations suggest this requirement potentially creates new challenges for CBP in terms of integrating this with existing programs, working with foreign governments, overcoming logistical barriers, testing new technology, determining resource requirements and responsibilities, and other issues," Caldwell said in testimony to Congress this month.

The department is testing integrated scanning devices at seven foreign ports under its Secure Freight Initiative.

Notably, Caldwell said the maturity of technology is unknown.

"Integrated scanning technologies to test the feasibility of scanning 100 percent of U.S.-bound cargo containers are not yet operational at all seaports," he said, adding that "the amount of bandwidth necessary to transmit scanning equipment outputs to CBP officers for review exceeds what is currently feasible and that the electronic infrastructure necessary to transmit these outputs may be limited" at some ports.

Caldwell said many foreign ports may lack the space for additional equipment. It also is unclear how much it will cost to meet the new requirement and whether the cost will be borne by the U.S. government or foreign governments, he said.

Another significant mandate requires Homeland Security to begin issuing transportation worker identification credentials at the 10 busiest U.S. seaports by July 1. The department missed that deadline.

Instead, Baker will tell the committee the department begins enrolling workers in the TWIC program at the Port of Wilmington in Delaware on Tuesday. The program will be rolled out to 11 other ports by the end of November.

But it is not clear if the department will meet another requirement that stipulates workers at the 40 largest ports be enrolled in TWIC by January. And the department does not yet have a timeframe for installing technology and machines to read and verify TWIC cards at each port.

Under the TWIC program, workers must pass a criminal, terrorist and immigration background checks. The department plans to enroll more than 1 million workers by next year.

"We appreciate the support of our partners at the Port of Wilmington for helping make one of the world's most advanced interoperable biometric systems a reality," said Maurine Fanguy, TWIC's program director.