A little over a year ago, the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a $300 million port security plan that expanded the Container Security Initiative (CSI) – a program designed to identify, target and search high-risk cargo. Phase II of the CSI extended protection beyond the initial 20 major ports (which account for 68 percent of all cargo entering the United States) to increase the rate of protected cargo to 80 percent.
Clearly, the federal government’s continued emphasis on homeland security highlights the need for increased diligence on all fronts, including the nation’s ports. In February of this year, President Bush responded to this need in his Fiscal 2005 budget proposal, which called for $1.9 billion for port security efforts.