Ongoing air cargo terror threat prompts new US decree

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Air freight entering the US is facing up to the reality of new, enhanced security measures. Following a successful trial, the government has implemented its Air Cargo Advanced Screening (ACAS) system. ABC News reports that ACAS has brought forward the deadline by which carriers are required to file cargo security reports. This will allow customs officials more time to determine if “dangerous” goods are US-bound, and allow them to order crews to unload any “suspicious” cargo. “The [Department of Homeland Security] has received specific, classified intelligence that certain terrorist organisations seek to exploit vulnerabilities in international air cargo security,” the agency said in a new rule filed Monday. “Global terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as well as their offshoots and associates, remain committed to targeting international commercial airline operations in order to maximise the effects of their terror campaign.”