Screen ‘Em All–or Just the Suspicious Ones?

Friday’s Wall Street Journal included a story about the difference between how Hong Kong and US port authorities screen containers for bombs. The Chinese have developed a screening method that takes every single container through the detector, leaving nothing to chance. The technology is expensive but there is no doubt they saw everything…and they keep the images on file.

Contrast this with the US method. They only screen about 5-6% of the containers, relying on intelligence and anomalies in the bills of lading, or other warning signs to determine what to scan. There are people in the US who say we should follow the Chinese, and develop the mass screening for every container. But the US Customs, ATF and other organizations, insist that their method, using signs and intelligence, is far better and screening every container is a waste of money and time. I think we will be hearing a drumbeat to copy the HOng Kong method if anything terrible like a bomb makes its way past our port screeners.