Air Cargo Security

Cargo and mail present a distinct security challenge because the volumes are large and the contents varied, making screening every consignment to the same standard as passenger baggage difficult. The response is a secure supply-chain model: cargo is handled by accredited parties whose security is regulated and audited, so that an item's security can be established and maintained along the chain. A regulated agent is an entity — a forwarder or handler — approved to apply security controls to cargo, while a known consignor is a shipper approved to prepare cargo securely at origin so it can be accepted without further screening at later stages.

Where cargo does not come through a secured chain, or where risk requires it, consignments are screened using methods such as X-ray, explosive detection and trace detection, or other approved techniques. The model is reinforced by enhanced measures for higher-risk cargo and by international information-sharing, since a weakness anywhere in a global supply chain can be exploited. The 2010 printer-cartridge bomb plot is a frequently cited example of why cargo security receives sustained attention.

Cargo security is part of the broader picture of how an operation can be targeted. Within an aviation security intelligence context, AeroVigil can relate reporting on supply-chain and cargo-related threats to the operations and stations they concern.