Advanced Cargo Container Scanning Technology Development

The terrorist use of a cargo container to smuggle a nuclear weapon or radiological material which could be used in a radiological dispersion device (RDD) is a serious threat currently being addressed by the US and other governments. The US government has negotiated through the Container Security Initiative (CSI) placing Customs and Border Protection inspectors in 20 major overseas ports to help ensure that cargo containers bound for the US do not constitute a threat. CSI and other initiatives to help secure the supply chain, such as CT-PAT (Customs Trade Partnership against Terrorism) are effective initial efforts to protect against terrorist use of cargo containers to launch a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) attack. However, the 7 million containers which enter the US by sea every year present a difficult inspection challenge. Currently, only a relatively small percentage (~5-6%) of containers, those deemed “high threat” containers, are physically inspected usually using non-intrusive scanners (either gamma-ray or x-ray) to detect contraband hidden within the cargo. Advancements in cargo container scanning technologies are needed to further enhance the security of cargo containers without disrupting the essential flow of cargo. The economic consequences of a successful WMD attack by terrorist involving cargo containers are potentially catastrophic since an attack could lead to a shut-down of the supply chain for an extended period. Improved container scanning technologies hold the key to expeditiously re-starting the supply chain postattack.