TSA Backs Off Deadline for 100% Air Cargo Screening

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has decided not to proceed with its December 31 deadline for 100% screening of cargo on international passenger aircraft bound for the United States. That decision has won the approval Michael Steen, chairman of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA).

“We wish to commend TSA on this decision,” Steen says. “We fully recognize its intention to enhance existing air cargo security programs, but it is showing the foresight to listen to, and work with, the industry towards this objective. This is the result of TSA requesting comment from the air cargo industry on the feasibility of a December 31, 2011, deadline and its careful consideration of the advice it received.”

TIACA expects to engage in further consultation with TSA along with other industry partners on air cargo and aviation security measures, Sheen adds.

In April 2011, Neel Shah, chief cargo officer for Delta Air Lines and chairman of TIACA’s Security sub-committee, warned of “significant global supply chain disruption” if TSA enforced its proposed December 31 deadline. At that time, Shah said, “Unless TSA and, more broadly speaking, the entire U.S. government focuses the necessary resources on reviewing the process and timeline by which foreign security programs are validated and placed into the TSA’s National Cargo Security Program (NCSP), we will face some significant disruptions to the global supply chain. It’s critical that we get more foreign programs under review and certified into the NCSP in the next few months, especially if TSA is considering an accelerated deadline for 100% inbound screening.”

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TSA Finalizes Air Cargo Screening Mandate