TSA Division Helps Secure Cargo and Passengers
News & Happenings
January 3, 2008
7,500 tons of air cargo are loaded onto passenger planes every day. TSA worked with Congress to significantly strengthen security of air cargo through the 9/11 Bill signed into law Aug. 3.
The Air Cargo Division in TSA's Office of Transportation Sector Network Management works to prevent terrorists from turning passenger planes laden with cargo into weapons. That's a heavy mandate given that 50,000 tons of air cargo are transported every day - 7,500 tons of it on passenger planes.
To achieve its mission, the division searches the entire air cargo network - including 10,000 facilities used by 3,800 freight forwarders - for strategic points to thwart terrorists. It has four offices that develop strategies and programs that collaboratively strengthen the agency's layered approach to aviation security.
"The main thrust of cargo security programs now comes from the 9/11 law," said Air Cargo Division General Manager Ed Kelly. "The law requires 100 percent screening of air cargo on passenger planes by 2010."
Screening 100 percent of cargo at airports would create enormous delays in the shipment of goods today. A fifth program office, the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP) office, is being developed to meet mandates of the new law and prevent delays. The CCSP will strengthen the screening system by allowing the aviation and cargo industries to assume direct responsibility for screening, which could be done at warehouses and factories. TSA will begin phase one of the program in 2008.
