Transcripts

Port Security Just Got Tighter

SUSIE GHARIB: This afternoon, the U.S. Senate approved a massive port security bill. The measure requires every port worker to have a security ID and authorizes the hiring of 1,000 new agents to screen cargo. It also settles what has been a very contentious issue, whether to screen every container coming into the U.S. for nuclear weapons. Darren Gersh reports.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The port security bill, known as the safe act, sets aside $835 million to place radiation monitors at the nation`s busiest ports by the end of next year. It also mandates a pilot program in three overseas ports to test scanning technology that`s now used in Hong Kong to detect a smuggled nuclear weapon. Supporters say that system still needs to be perfected before it is rolled out around the world.

SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R) MINNESOTA: The images that are received are not processed by the folks in Langley or somewhere else. They are not coordinated with the things that we do on national security. So you have in place a concept that we have to see whether it works.

GERSH: Critics complain the Senate caved into pressure from shippers when it defeated an amendment that would have forced overseas ports to adopt nuclear detection systems within four years.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D) NEW YORK: And when you compare this to the danger we face, all of the arguments against mandating that our containers be inspected for nuclear weapons fade away.

GERSH: The port of Hong Kong now uses radiation screening and x-ray imaging at only two of its many piers. But some experts say the containers pass by so quickly, there is not enough time to study what`s inside. Experts say a trained technician may need up to three minutes to review each x-ray. One hundred percent screening means it could take 250 hours to screen a ship carrying 5,000 containers.

PENROSE ALBRIGHT, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CIVITAS GROUP: I think what you`ll find is that I can scan things technically as fast as you want. But when I got to have somebody look at that image and spend some time with it, that will be the rate-limiting step.

GERSH: Security experts say not every one of the 11 million containers entering out country every year needs to be x-rayed, but there is broad agreement that more cargo needs to be screened for nuclear materials and it is better to do that before a big ship arrives in port in the United States. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.