Description

For decades, criminals have used cargo containers, trucks, and
train cars to illegally bring narcotics, weapons, and people across
U.S. borders. The vulnerabilities that smugglers exploit are also
available to terrorists.
The attacks on the USS Cole in the port of Yemen in
2000 and the French oil tanker Limburg in 2002 illustrate
the direct threat that terrorism poses to seagoing vessels. Another
prospect is that ships, trains, or trucks could be used in
conventional suicide attacks, much like hijacked airliners were
used on 9/11. A cargo ship or train car could also be exploded or
sunk in a port or rail yard, damaging the facility and blocking
commercial traffic. The worst-case scenario would involve a weapon
of mass destruction entering the country via trade channels. Even a
relatively modest nuclear weapon detonated in a major seaport would
kill between 500,000 and 1 million people, directly destroy up to
$500 billion worth of property, cause losses due to trade
disruption of $100 to $200 billion, and impose further indirect
costs of up to $1.2 trillion.
The Department of Homeland Security has begun implementing
programs and procedures designed to safeguard the transportation
and supply chains. States, shippers, port authorities, exporters,
manufacturers, and foreign governments all have important roles to
play in that effort. Federal rules and regulations are necessary
but should be as open-ended as possible. They should set security
goals and verify how well the private sector meets them, rarely
mandating specific technologies or processes. Securing the trading
system against terrorism is a regrettable but real cost of doing
business internationally, and consumers and companies should not be
insulated from those costs.
The challenge for U.S. policymakers is to improve security while
minimizing the loss of liberty and the benefits of economic
openness. The task is made more difficult by domestic interests
that press for measures that unfairly hinder their foreign
competitors without appreciably improving U.S. security.