Markey Will Introduce New Cargo Screening Bill

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., saying he wants to close a loophole exposed by the bombs disguised in parcels from Yemen, plans to introduce legislation to require 100 percent of cargo on freighters to be screened.

Markey, who in 2007 wrote the bill requiring 100 percent screening on cargo sent on passenger planes, said he plans to introduce the bill after Congress convenes following the midterm elections.

"While we now have 100 percent screening of air cargo being transported on domestic passenger planes, and we are screening over a reported 80 percent of the incoming air cargo on international passenger planes, we are not yet screening all the freight on all-cargo carriers," Markey said in a statement.

"It is time for the shipping industry and the business community to accept the reality that more needs to be done to secure cargo planes so that they cannot be turned into a delivery systems for bombs targeting our country."

Markey issued the statement after two packages containing explosive devices were discovered en route to the U.S. Authorities discovered one package at England's East Midlands Airport and a second at a FedEx facility in Dubai.

The explosive devices were concealed within printer cartridges. Authorities have said the explosives very likely would not have been detected by current X-ray equipment or physical searches.

The Transportation Security Administration does not require all U.S. incoming cargo to be screened on cargo planes.

"Friday's incident shows that al Qaeda is well aware of this loophole in the system, and they fully intend to exploit it," Markey said. "That is why I intend to introduce a bill that would close the air cargo plane screening loophole when Congress reconvenes following Tuesday's elections."

Freighter operators were excluded from the 100 percent requirement in the 2007 law, in part because officials in the industry believe terrorists are not as likely to target all-cargo aircraft as passenger aircraft. Airline industry executives also say multilayered security programs, including the sort of intelligence that led to authorities to the explosives last week, offer better protection than basic screening.

The explosives found last week were transported out of Yemen last week on Qatar Airways passenger planes. Under U.S. law, the shipments would have been X-rayed.