The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just released a report on the progress made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP, part of the Department of Homeland Security) on its mandate to oversee supply chain security. In addition to a description of progress in forging consensus on international co-operation and uniformity, the report singles out the congressional mandate for 100% cargo screening as being a key barrier to progress in securing the supply chain. The GAO points to the inefficiency of treating all containers alike, rather than targeting efforts at high-risk containers, and the near-certainty that the cost of implementation of 100% screening will require diversion of resources from other areas of supply chain risk management as factors that suggest 100% screening will be a net detriment to supply chain security. The report may be accessed here:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08538.pdf