When your ship comes in

Every day, thousands of cargo containers from around the world pass through our nation's sea ports carrying items we need, and possibly some that are not so welcome: drugs, explosives, chemical, biological, or radiological weapons - even human cargo.

The possible concealment of such items in containers led lawmakers to call for the screening of all ocean cargo containers-thousands per port per day. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is charged with the critical task of securing the country from terrorists and their weapons while facilitating legitimate trade and travel, including the monitoring of what's in thousands of sea cargo containers as they pass through CBP screening. These containers must be inspected quickly and accurately, and without the business at each port grinding to a halt when they do so.