New York Times Editorial - Port security for America
New York Times Editorial - Port security for America
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: September 14, 2006
Michael Chertoff, the U.S. secretary of homeland security, this week raised the specter that if the government starts too many expensive antiterrorism programs it could further a plot by Osama bin Laden to "drive us crazy, into bankruptcy" through overspending on homeland defense.
It was particularly ironic that Chertoff spun this theory while he was fighting off a measure, up for a vote on Thursday, that would help protect U.S. ports against the threat that he himself deems most worrisome - a nuclear explosion within America's borders - without government spending.
It's hard to understand what Chertoff dislikes about a measure, introduced by Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, that would require that all cargo containers headed for the United States be scanned at foreign ports to search for a possible nuclear weapon. Chertoff, after all, put a nuclear bomb at the top of his list of things to worry about. But he balked at doing it now on the flimsy grounds that some ports might not have enough room to install scanning devices without slowing the flow of traffic and that some foreign governments might not cooperate.
Those sound like the rationalizations of a bureaucrat unwilling to push hard. Terminal operators in Hong Kong have been using such scanners effectively without disrupting traffic. The cost of such scanning might reach $20 a container, a small surcharge on shipping costs measured in thousands of dollars.
Virtually all containers destined for the United States should be scanned within the next four years. It is not enough to scan the containers after their arrival. That could be too late.
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: September 14, 2006
Michael Chertoff, the U.S. secretary of homeland security, this week raised the specter that if the government starts too many expensive antiterrorism programs it could further a plot by Osama bin Laden to "drive us crazy, into bankruptcy" through overspending on homeland defense.
It was particularly ironic that Chertoff spun this theory while he was fighting off a measure, up for a vote on Thursday, that would help protect U.S. ports against the threat that he himself deems most worrisome - a nuclear explosion within America's borders - without government spending.
It's hard to understand what Chertoff dislikes about a measure, introduced by Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, that would require that all cargo containers headed for the United States be scanned at foreign ports to search for a possible nuclear weapon. Chertoff, after all, put a nuclear bomb at the top of his list of things to worry about. But he balked at doing it now on the flimsy grounds that some ports might not have enough room to install scanning devices without slowing the flow of traffic and that some foreign governments might not cooperate.
Those sound like the rationalizations of a bureaucrat unwilling to push hard. Terminal operators in Hong Kong have been using such scanners effectively without disrupting traffic. The cost of such scanning might reach $20 a container, a small surcharge on shipping costs measured in thousands of dollars.
Virtually all containers destined for the United States should be scanned within the next four years. It is not enough to scan the containers after their arrival. That could be too late.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 9:54 AM
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