If I may make an observation based on reality and not be accused of being a conspiracy theorist I would appreciate...
According to the government we are under a massive threat from al-Qaeda and have spent billions on new agencies and security equipment and so forth. Yet less than 5% of the shipping containers entering the country are inspected.
How does that even approach being sensible?
Not sayin' it's a conspiracy theory...
The 95-percent figure is misleading and falsely implies that we do nothing to inspect cargo containers arriving at our seaports. We use intelligence to review information on 100 % of cargo entering our ports, and all cargo that presents a risk to our country is inspected using large x-ray and radiation detection equipment. Following 9/11, the Administration developed and implemented a smarter strategy to identify, target, and inspect cargo containers before they reach U.S. ports. While it is possible to secure a nation by closing its borders and inspecting everything and everybody that enters, doing so would render us obsolete.
None of the security measures implemented as a result of this strategy existed before 9/11.
Our strategy is to rule out potential threats before they arrive at our borders and ports. In fact, the security measures now in place allow us to rule out 94 % of the cargo as potential threats prior to its arrival into the United States. Six percent (6 %) of total cargo containers were identified this year as potential threats and were physically inspected immediately upon arrival. (The percentage will change annually because the inspections are based upon identified risk following intensive screening.) Dramatically increasing physical inspections after arrival is a waste of resources that will not appreciably increase our national security. In fact, the type of increase in physical inspections implied by this allegation would cost billions of dollars in resources and cripple not only the U.S. economy, but the global economy as well.
