US Effort to Secure Foreign Ports Is Faulted

Congressional officials say the Department of Homeland Security's work to bring its antiterrorism campaign overseas is so flawed, it may have been easier at times to smuggle unconventional weapons into the country.

The New York Times' Eric Lipton is reporting that the DHS has reduced inspections in the US of cargo coming from 36 foreign ports. Lipton also says the department has reduced inspections of 5,000 importers "that were certified under its antiterrorism initiatives," but has "failed to confirm whether most of those importers have tightened security or whether thousands of high-risk containers headed to the United States were inspected at ports overseas."

"We have folks here who have the right intentions," Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) told Lipton. "But rather than making it harder for folks with evil intentions to do harm to this country, we have in place a system that creates the potential for greater vulnerability."

Government officials told Lipton that the port and importer programs, which offer incentives to those who sign on to Homeland Security initiatives, are meant to help block threats overseas so they cannot reach American shores. However, Kristi M. Clemens, assistant commissioner at Customs and Border Protection told Lipton the agency realized that the two programs had some problems.

"We have had to make adjustments to further strengthen the program," Clemens told Lipton. "The criticisms are fine; some of them have been helpful."

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