Cargo screening

[xoxoxoBruce]

Editorial: Unprotected air cargo International Herald Tribune 09/10/2007

The 9/11 Commission warned that terrorists may try to place explosives in the cargo holds of passenger planes and urged that more be done to guard against such attacks. Congress recently passed a good law requiring that all cargo carried on passenger planes be screened, the way carry-on luggage is.

But the Bush administration appears poised to ignore the clear language of the law and allow some shippers to inspect themselves. That would be a lawless move, and it would put air travelers at risk.

The new Democratic-led Congress, keeping a promise to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations, passed a law to upgrade the lax security in the cargo holds of passenger planes. It requires that air cargo be screened at a level of security "commensurate" with the level of security for screening checked baggage. Congress left the screening method open, but it made clear that there must be an actual search.

Disturbingly, the Transportation Security Administration is talking about allowing sealed boxes sent by approved shippers to be loaded onto passenger planes without being checked. The TSA seems to think it will be able to determine that some shippers are inherently trustworthy. But that makes no more sense than deciding that employees of a particular company can board passenger airplanes with carry-on luggage that has not gone through metal detectors.

The rule has to be: If it goes on a passenger airplane, it gets checked under government supervision.

Considering the hassle they give passengers, I should think they would be a little more concerned with the cargo.
The argument that, when shipping a package you don't know what plane it will go on, seems hollow to me. Isn't the terrorist aim to disrupt the economy rather than targeting individual flights?