US Air Cargo Security Could Be Improved, Investigators Say

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have taken a number of actions designed to secure inbound air cargo, but these efforts are still largely in the early stages and could be strengthened, according to a new government report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

GAO is the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

"For instance, TSA completed a risk-based strategic plan to address domestic air cargo security, but has not developed a similar strategy for addressing inbound air cargo security, including how best to partner with CBP and international air cargo stakeholders," GAO says. "In addition, while TSA has identified the primary threats to inbound air cargo, it has not yet assessed inbound air cargo vulnerabilities and critical assets. Moreover, TSA’s air cargo security rule incorporated a number of provisions aimed at enhancing the security of inbound air cargo. This final rule also acknowledges that TSA amended its security directives and programs to triple the percentage of cargo inspected on domestic and foreign passenger aircraft."

TSA continues to exempt certain types of inbound air cargo transported on passenger air carriers from inspection, GAO found. Further, TSA inspects domestic and foreign passenger air carriers with service to the United States to assess whether they are complying with air cargo security requirements, but currently does not conduct compliance inspections of all air carriers transporting inbound air cargo, it says. Moreover, TSA has not developed performance goals and measures to determine to what extent air carriers are complying with security requirements.

"In addition, CBP recently began targeting inbound air cargo transported on passenger and all-cargo aircraft that may pose a security risk and inspecting such cargo once it arrives in the United States," GAO says. "TSA and CBP, however, do not have a systematic process in place to share information that could be used to strengthen the department’s efforts in securing inbound air cargo, such as the results of TSA air carrier compliance inspections and foreign airport assessments."

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TSA Launches Airport-Wide Security Surge

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced the first in a series of airport employee security operations to increase security measures at U.S. airports. The surge operation is underway at Orlando International, TampaInternational, Miami International, Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Internationaland Luis Munoz Marin International (San Juan, P.R.) airports.

TSA has deployed 160 transportation security officers, aviation security inspectors, federal air marshals and other personnel to increase current employee and passenger security capabilities at these five airports. TSA began randomly screening employees working in secure areas of the airport approximately one year ago at 20 airports, and broadened the program early last fall. Now, roving groups of officers screen employees on a random and unpredictable basis nationwide, the agency says.

TSA was created to boost airport and airline security following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"TSA moves in a flexible, nimble fashion to address vulnerabilities with a layered security approach," says TSA Administrator Kip Hawley. "Every employee should have a reasonable expectation that they could be screened at any time, at any access point within the footprint of the airport."

TSA will conduct additional operations in other regions in the coming weeks and months on an unannounced basis. While there is no intelligence that indicates a specific threat to aviation in Florida or Puerto Rico, this mobilization illustrates TSA's ability to quickly and unpredictably deploy assets based on risk, the agency says.

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Border Security System Faces Strategic, Operational, Technological Challenges

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT border security system faces a variety of technological and other challenges, a government watchdog agency says.

US-VISIT is designed to collect, maintain, and share data on selected foreign nationals entering and exiting the United States at air, sea, and land ports of entry (POEs). These data, including biometric identifiers like digital fingerprints, are to be used to screen persons against watch lists, verify identities, and record arrival and departure.

US-VISIT entry capability had been installed at 154 of the 170 land POEs. Officials at all 21 sites visited by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that US-VISIT had improved their ability to process visitors and verify identities.

DHS plans to further enhance US-VISIT’s capabilities by, among other things, requiring new technology and equipment for scanning all 10 fingerprints, notes GAO, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.

"While this may aid border security, installation could increase processing times and adversely affect operations at land POEs where space constraints, traffic congestion, and processing delays already exist. GAO’s work indicated that management controls in place to identify such problems and evaluate operations were insufficient and inconsistently administered," GAO says.

For example, GAO identified computer processing problems at 12 sites visited; at 9 of these, the problems were not always reported. US-VISIT has developed performance measures, but measures to gauge factors that uniquely affect land POE operations were not developed; these would put US-VISIT officials in a better position to identify areas for improvement, GAO finds.

US-VISIT officials concluded that, for various reasons, a biometric US-VISIT exit capability cannot now be implemented without incurring a major impact on land POE facilities. An interim nonbiometric exit technology tested did not meet the statutory requirement for a biometric exit capability and thus cannot ensure that visitors who enter the country are those who leave, GAO says.

"DHS had not yet reported to Congress on a required plan describing how it intended to fully implement a biometric entry/exit program or use nonbiometric solutions. Until this plan is finalized, neither DHS nor Congress is in a good position to prioritize and allocate program resources or plan for POE facilities modifications," GAO adds.

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System Detects Hazardous, Toxic Material in Concealed Packaging

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing the next generation of screening devices that will identify hazardous and toxic materials even if concealed by clothing and packaging materials.

Working in the underutilized terahertz (THz) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that lies between microwaves and infrared, a team of Labs scientists is harnessing Sandia’s strengths in a variety of technical areas with the goal of building a highly integrated miniaturized terahertz transmitter-receiver (transceiver) that could make a number of applications possible.

The project, the Terahertz Microelectronics Transceiver Grand Challenge, is in its second of three years of funding through Sandia's internal Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.

Sandia is a U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratory.

“The technology being developed in the Grand Challenge can be used to scan for items such as concealed weapons or materials, explosives, and weapons of mass destruction,” says Mike Wanke, principal investigator. “In addition, we believe it will find applications in advanced communication systems and high-resolution radars. However, the infrastructure needed to move the terahertz technology from the laboratory to the field is unavailable right now. We want to develop that infrastructure and invent the necessary technologies.”

Wanke says over the past three years, “the terahertz situation has begun to change dramatically, primarily due to the revolutionary development of terahertz quantum cascade lasers.”

These tiny lasers are semiconductor sources of terahertz radiation capable of output powers in excess of 100 mW. Previously, such powers could only be obtained by molecular gas lasers occupying cubic meters and weighing more than 100 kg, or free electron lasers weighing tons and occupying entire buildings.

Quantum cascade laser-based systems can be less than the size of a baseball and powered from a nine-volt battery. Sandia has been a leader in developing this new technology and in collaboration with MIT is responsible for several world performance records for the lasers. Also, the Labs and its partners are the only US institutions that have demonstrated the ability to grow the unique semiconductor crystals such that they can be turned into operating terahertz quantum cascade lasers. The crystals are grown by Sandia research scientist John Reno, an expert in molecular beam epitaxy, a method of laying down layers of materials with atomic thicknesses onto substrates.

Sandia researchers spent the first year of the Grand Challenge using Sandia’s unique strengths in integrated microelectronics and device physics to develop components that are now being combined to create an integrated THz microelectronic transceiver, a core enabling element.

The team is currently developing the receiver, doing systems tests and exploring packaging requirements. At the end of three years, the researchers expect to have an actual working prototype capable of detecting the materials and chemicals by reading distinctive molecular spectral “signatures.”

“Most materials and chemicals have their own unique terahertz spectral signatures,” Wanke says. “A terahertz transceiver system would be able to measure, for example, the signature of a gas and determine what it is.”

“Atmospheric scientists and radio astronomers have spent years developing terahertz spectral signature databases to identify chemicals in nebula and planetary atmospheres,” says Greg Hebner, program manager. “Even though the current devices are washing machine-sized, they are located in a few observatories, and one is even flying on a satellite. To address specific national security problems, we are working on reducing the size, weight, and power requirement as well as expanding the existing spectral databases.”

In addition to monitoring for concealed hazardous materials, Mike believes a terahertz system can be used to monitor the air for toxic materials. Using air sampling technology developed at Sandia and other locations, hazardous vapors can be preconcentrated. Shining light from the quantum cascade laser through the concentrated sample provides a direct identification of the vapor. This technology can be used in conjunction with existing mass spectrometer-based systems to reduce false identifications.


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