§981a Pilot integrated scanning system

Summary

Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to pick three foreign seaports within 90 days after October 4, 2006, to test an integrated scanning system that links nonintrusive imaging and radiation detection (equipment can come from the Department of Energy’s Megaports program). The ports must be different in features and trade volume. The Secretary must work with the Secretary of Energy, the private sector, and the foreign host government to run the pilot. Within one year after October 4, 2006, the system must be fully up and running to scan every container bound for the United States that passes through the terminal, send the images and data to security staff in the host country or to Customs and Border Protection in the U.S. for review, follow established procedures to clear any radiation alarms, use the data to improve targeting programs like the Automated Targeting System, and store the information for later use. The Secretary must check whether the system has a low false alarm rate; can be deployed and run overseas with reasonable cost, staff, and infrastructure; can work with existing systems; does not greatly slow trade; and automatically flags suspicious or high-risk cargo for inspection. Within 120 days after full deployment, the Secretary, with the Secretaries of Energy and State, must give Congress a report with lessons learned, an analysis of how the images help targeting systems, an evaluation of anomaly-detection software, and a plan and schedule to expand the scanning system to other Container Security Initiative ports. If the technology meets the criteria, the Secretary, with the Secretary of State, must try to get foreign governments to use it to scan all cargo bound for the United States as quickly as possible.