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Container Security: Is the Layered Approach Working?

Guest columnist Jim Giermanski says the government's five-layered approach to container security is on the right track, but needs significant improvements

By James Giermanski

Page 7

When I asked why, he said that he was assigned there to teach them how to set up an intelligence net and that AFOSI sent him to me for guidance. Needless to say, even if he were successful, what level of intelligence gathering and counterintelligence capacity and ability would CBP have roughly 10 years later? Again, from personal experience with Customs (CBP) on cross-border drug movements, I found that CBP had little or no expertise in developing intelligence. Since it was not their job to do so, one can expect it would not be done. In fact, there has always been a stigma attached to CBP's law enforcement history and status. For many in law enforcement, and for some outside of law enforcement, CBP had the image of a government tax collector and border guard. However, as of July 6, 2008, CBP officers have law enforcement retirement coverage, indicating a significant change in the perception that many had of them. CBP now has federal law enforcement status. Under DHS, CBP clearly has enforcement status and all that should with it, including an intelligence function. While maybe not having it before given their historical role was understandable in the 1990s, it is not understandable today.

Also, today there should be greater cooperation between and among counterintelligence and law enforcement areas, unlike when I was an FBI agent. Yet, it seems that it may still be a problem. What cooperation does CBP receive from those agencies that could help CBP in preventing terrorist acts? CBP's National Targeting Center should be fed more than CBP's own data. There should be, and hopefully there is, the sharing of intelligence collected by other federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Thus, the first new layer, the counterintelligence layer, could be attained, not by CBP's own operations, but through the cooperation of those agencies that currently conduct counterintelligence.

The second new layer, and probably the easiest to accomplish, is a layer of security provided by smart containers. A smart container system is more than just a locked door or an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag. A smart container is one that can be questioned and can respond in real time or close to real time. It can tell CBP that it is being breached, moved, or used as a host for WMD. Specifically it has eight general characteristics.

1. It functions as a part of a system approach necessary to coordinate all facets of the supply-chain process to ensure visibility and security, beginning at origin.
2. It electronically identifies the authorized personnel stuffing and securing the container at origin.
3. It captures and transmits electronically certain trade data that will link to other supply-chain documentation, and accept and report information such as container/trailer number and booking data.
4. It complies with the WCO, C-TPAT and AEO (European Union's Authorized Economic Operator) requirements to maintain the integrity of the entire container, by detecting a breach anywhere into its body.
5. It reports in real time or as close to real time, any breach.
6. It provides worldwide geographic positioning throughout the supply chain when queried, and when programmed, automatically report its position if it is off its designated course of travel.
7. It recognizes and records the identity of the authorized person opening the container at destination.
8. It accommodates an array of sensors and is able to communicate with or be adaptable to varied software packages used by shippers and carriers within the supply chain.