security of cargo, but now there are added interests by government, which carry the weight of regulation behind them.
QMany in the industry opposed the congressional mandate to physically screen and
inspect domestic and international
inbound cargo moving in the bellies of
passenger planes. They argued that a risk-based program such as “known shipper,”
where forwarders would make threat
assessments based on their knowledge of
their customers and their behavior, was a
more cost-effective approach. With the
mandate now in force and implemented,
are the outcomes any better than if the
requirements weren’t in place?
AIt would be hard to extrapolate the current risks to belly cargo security
and correlate them to “what ifs.” With so
many origins and subsequent handoffs
before cargo is finally placed on a passenger flight, there are
many ways to infiltrate and compromise legitimate shipments. Risk-based assessments are valuable tools, but they
must be part of a layered approach. The potential outcomes
of not examining cargo are too devastating.
QThe October 2010 incident involving explosives trans- ported on all-cargo aircraft raised worries that terrorists would begin targeting cargo planes as weapons of mass
destruction. All-cargo services are exempt from the security
mandates governing passenger planes. As a
former executive of a cargo carrier, do you
see the need for all-cargo operators to be
covered?
AAll-cargo airlines do an excellent job of monitoring their cargoes. My
interactions with them tell me that they
are as concerned as cargo managers at
passenger airlines, and that they also follow many risk-based and layered
approaches to security. But cargo carriers
are less of a target because a terrorist can
never be certain which flight an explosive
device will be placed aboard. Because passenger schedules are more predictable and
because you have humans aboard besides
the flight crew, the greatest threat still remains with passenger airlines.
ART ARWAY thoughtleaders
QIf you were running security for a shipper, forwarder, airline, ocean line, or port facility, what would keep
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