Port Security

The Obama administration has failed to meet a legal deadline for scanning all shipping containers for radioactive material before they reach U.S. ports.

U.S. fails to meet deadline for scanning of cargo containers

By Douglas Frantz, Washington Post

The Obama administration has failed to meet a legal deadline for scanning all shipping containers for radioactive material before they reach the United States, a requirement aimed at strengthening maritime security and preventing terrorists from smuggling a nuclear device into any of the nation’s 300 sea and river ports.

The Department of Homeland Security was given until this month to ensure that 100 percent of inbound shipping containers are screened at foreign ports.

But the department’s secretary, Janet Napolitano, informed Congress in May that she was extending a two-year blanket exemption to foreign ports because the screening is proving too costly and cumbersome. She said it would……[access full article]