The Container Security Initiative (CSI)
The Container Security Initiative (CSI), operated by the US Customs and Border Protection, addresses any threats to the borders of the US and to global trade that is posed by the potential for terrorist use of a maritime container to deliver a weapon.
The Container Security Initiative proposes a security regime to ensure that all containers that could pose a potential risk terrorism are identified and inspected at foreign ports before they are placed on vessels destined for the US.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has stationed multidisciplinary teams of officers from both CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to work together with host foreign government counterparts. Their mission is to target and prescreen containers and to develop additional investigative leads related to the terrorist threat to cargo destined to the US.
The three core elements of CSI are:
- Identify high-risk containers. CBP uses automated targeting tools to identify containers that pose a potential risk for terrorism, based on advance information and strategic intelligence.
- Prescreen and evaluate containers before they are shipped. Containers are screened as early in the supply chain as possible, generally at the port of departure.
- Use technology to prescreen high-risk containers to ensure that screening can be done rapidly without slowing down the movement of trade. This technology includes large-scale X-ray and gamma ray machines and radiation detection devices.
All information on CSI was taken from the US Customs and Border Protection website. For more information, please click here.
