New cargo rules intended to tighten border security

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department announced rules Thursday to better identify cargo shipped into and out of the country and said it ordered airlines to conduct more thorough daily inspections of their airplanes.

The airline security directive, issued Monday to commercial passenger airlines that fly within the United States, followed an embarrassing incident in which box cutters remained hidden in jetliners' lavatories for five weeks. In October, Nathaniel Heatwole, a student from Damascus, Md., hid box cutters and other banned items aboard two Southwest Airlines planes, where they were found by maintenance staff.

Brian Turmail, a department spokesman, said the directive includes a catalog of areas that must be checked. Previously, he said, there wasn't enough clarity about what kinds of compartments needed to be inspected.

The new rules require electronic manifests identifying freight shipped by truck, rail, plane and ship to be sent to officials before the goods reach the border.

"They'll look for trends and they'll look for red flags, such as mislabeled cargo or a record of past violations that might cause a container to be labeled high risk," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said.

Customs gets some advance information on cargo carried by plane, rail and truck. The information, though, is provided voluntarily and isn't always complete. Cargo declarations no longer will be allowed to arrive on paper with a shipment.

Officials said the electronic information will be compared with law enforcement and commercial databases to target potentially dangerous shipments that need to be inspected.

Congress ordered the changes last year because of fears terrorists could smuggle chemical, biological or nuclear weapons into the country. Customs officials say they can identify high-risk cargo by reviewing shipment data against the databases and in light of strategic intelligence.

Only a tiny percentage of air, rail and truck cargo is inspected.

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