Vulnerabilities and Potential Improvements for the Air Cargo
System GAO-03-344, Dec 20, 2002 U.S. air carriers transport
billions of tons of cargo each year in both passenger planes and
all-cargo planes. Typically, about one-half of the hull of each
passenger aircraft is filled with cargo. As a result, any
vulnerabilities in the air cargo security system potentially
threaten the entire air transport system. GAO agreed to
determine the security vulnerabilities that have been identified
in the air cargo system, the status of key recommendations that
have been made since 1990 to improve air cargo security, and
ways in which air cargo security can be improved in the near-and
long-term. Numerous government and industry studies have
identified vulnerabilities in the air cargo system. These
vulnerabilities occur in the security procedures of some air
carriers and freight forwarders and in possible tampering with
freight at various handoffs that occur from the point when cargo
leaves a shipper to the point when it is