GAO Recommends Minor Fixes for ISF

(American Shipper)

Industry and government implementation of the Importer Security Filing this year has gone quite smoothly, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection should tighten some of the justifications for the original rule and speed up integrating the data into its antiterrorist screening system, a congressional watchdog agency said Tuesday.[...]

The GAO noted that CBP has not finalized how it will identify risk factors in ISF data and assign a weighted score for use in its automated targeting system (ATS). That means that so far the data isn’t being systematically analyzed for national security threats, although it is being used to double-check parties involved in a transaction against federal crime databases. But the submission of vessel stowage plans by carriers has led to the identification of more than 1,000 containers placed on board without required manifests, closing a potential security loophole. Read more here.