This morning the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) hosted a Northern Border Conference in Albany, NY to discuss initiatives for sharing container tracking data between participating government bodies in the U.S. and Canada with the private sector.
The project, dubbed Canada-U.S. Cargo Security Project, involves New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Quebec coordinating with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and the National Infrastructure Institute Center of Infrastructure Expertise to test radiation detection technologies and real-time data transmission.
During the first phase of the program DHS tracked a container shipped from New England through the international and reviewed existing container tracking and security technologies. The program field-tested the tracking and threat-detection capabilities on a single shipment entering the U.S. at the Highgate Springs, VT border crossing from its origin in Slovakia.
The second phase of the program will be implemented shortly.
“A significant goal of this phase of the project will be to assess the extent that law enforcement and private security professionals can share real-time information,” said James W. McMahon, director of the New York State Office of Homeland Security.
Container transport via trucks will be scrutinized by the program as well as intermodal options from Canadian ports. Contingency plans will be developed for these routes and their effectiveness will be evaluated, according to the Office of New York Governor George E. Pataki.
