Bill Would Put 100 Percent Scanning on Hold

Senate legislation introduced Tuesday would suspend the 100 percent scanning requirement for marine containers in favor of a “more reasonable” risk-based approach, until scanning technology can be proven to be feasible.

The SAFE Port Reauthorization Act of 2010 would eliminate the July 2012 deadline Congress enacted in 2007, if the secretary of Homeland Security certifies that a risk-based approach to container security is effective.

The 2007 law required all U.S.-bound containers be X-rayed and checked for radiation before they leave a foreign port. The requirement has opponents within the government and private sector in the U.S., and has been assailed by foreign governments.

Taking a layered approach to cargo security “is a more reasonable method to secure our cargo until a new method of X-raying containers is proven effective,” said sponsoring senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, who were among the authors of the 2006 Security and Accountability for Every Port Act.

The Murray-Collins bill was the second one filed in the Senate in less than a week to renew port and maritime security measures that were put in place after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. On Friday, Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, filed a bill that would keep the 100 percent scanning requirement, but allow foreign ports to opt for nonintrusive imaging or radiation screening.

The Murray-Collins bill also extends the port security grant program for five years at $400 million a year, expands the America’s Waterway Watch program and provides protection from frivolous lawsuits for citizens who make good-faith reports of suspicious activity.

Funding for Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Targeting System also would be reauthorized, and companies in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism would receive new benefits. Customs would be authorized to share information about maritime and port security threats.

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