TSA Says It Will Adhere to Cargo Screening Deadlines

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it will meet federal deadlines to screen all cargo transported on passenger aircraft by 2010, according to the agency’s administrator Kip Hawley.

In August, Congress mandated half of the 7,500 tons of cargo transported daily be inspected by 2009 and all of it by 2010. The Government Accountability Office in 2005 concluded that only a very small percentage of cargo on passenger aircraft is inspected.

Hawley said the agency already is screening 100 percent of cargo loaded at smaller airports. “We have very definitely closed down on vulnerabilities,” he said.

Some lawmakers were skeptical the TSA would deliver, as the agency has failed to meet other deadlines, such as improving checked baggage screening and developing a program to check passenger names against terrorism watchlists. However, Hawley said TSA likely would make the deadline because the law permits shippers, rather than federal officials, to screen cargo.