Markey: Cargo Ship Stowaways Underscore Need to Implement 100% Scanning Law

Press Release

Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-author of the law that that requires 100 percent scanning of all in-bound cargo containers on ships before they depart for U.S. ports, released the following statement today after stowaways were discovered in a cargo container on a ship docked at Port Newark in New Jersey. The Department of Homeland Security has recently announced that it will miss the deadline of July 2012 to meet the 100 percent scanning mandate. Numerous experts have stated that a terrorist attack using a nuclear bomb smuggled into our country through a container ship and into a port is a highly likely occurrence. Rep. Markey is a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and former senior member of the Homeland Security Committee.

"This incident underscores the urgency with which the Department needs to implement the 100 percent scanning law to ensure that containers don't have nuclear weapons inside them before they are loaded onto a ship headed to our country. The stowaways were reportedly discovered when they were overheard talking, but nuclear weapons would be silent until they announced their presence in the most devastating manner."

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