Security Critic Urges Industry Response to Terrorism

The air cargo industry has a "compressed" window of opportunity to develop measures to counter the threat of terrorism after authorities thwarted a plot by al Qaeda operatives in Yemen to deliver concealed explosives, said Stephen E. Flynn, president of the Center for National Policy.

Flynn, a supply chain security advocate and critic for nearly a decade, warned that if the industry doesn't take steps, Congress is likely to impose measures that are less desirable.

"I've made the case to the industry that your window of opportunity to shape reasonable measures is before something happens," Flynn said. He suggested no particular measure, but said the industry will have to choose security that will reduce risk but allow carriers to operate as competitively as possible.

"I've maintained for a long time that the movement of freight generally, air and sea cargo specifically, remains a real vulnerability," Flynn said.

Flynn said the international cargo system makes it relatively easy for terrorists to smuggle goods, and the supply chain itself is a target. A successful attack would disrupt the economic system, and undermine peoples' trust in the supply chain.

"We seem to be at the beginning of this scenario playing itself out within the air cargo industry," Flynn said. "The terrorists have found a soft spot, and since the industry hasn't put in place measures to deal with the risk, they could well have measures imposed by the Congress without having much voice in the process."

The best security measures would pass a "morning after" test, Flynn said. "When something goes wrong, people will look at it and say it was a terrible thing, but reasonable measures were in place. The air cargo industry, as it remains the case with the maritime cargo industry, has very little that will pass the morning after test."

-- Contact R.G. Edmonson at bedmonson@joc.com.