Last year, the President signed into law the Safe Ports Act of 2006, which is among the most important homeland security legislation in history. Among other requirements, the Safe Port Act adds two valuable programs to the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) "multi-layered" port security strategy: 100-percent radiation scanning of inbound cargo containers and container security devices, such as electronic seals.
For many carriers and shippers, the prospects of a 100-percent scanning mandate from Washington is about as welcome as life-threatening surgery. With the nation's ports already at, or near capacity, 100-percent radiation scanning using today's technology guarantees scanning errors, such as "false positives," causing additional bottlenecks and delays to the port infrastructure already overburdened.
