In accordance with the SAFE Port Act, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its Strategy to Enhance International Supply Chain Security this week. This report provides an overview of how initiatives such as C-TPAT, the Container Security Initiative, and the Secure Freight Initiative form part of a multi-layered effort to increase the security of the international supply chain. This strategy defines the roles of various governmental agencies, including Customs and Border Protection, Department of Energy, and the US Coast Guard and how they work in conjunction in order to prevent, and potentially recuperate from, an attack.
Additionally, DHS formulated the strategy to provide protocol for damage assessments of the international supply chain, and act as a guidebook for the reestablishment of commerce and trade in the event of a terrorist attack at a major U.S. port.This strategy seeks to avoid an automatic shutdown of all the nation’s ports in response to a terrorist incident by creating a chain of command to quickly restore the flow of commodities and goods after a terrorist incident (such as crude oil, clothing, car parts and medical supplies). In addition to ensuring the flow of goods, the strategy categorizes the types of goods and cargo that will receive top priority at U.S. ports based on public health, national security and economic needs.
Click on the below link for a downloadable copy of the report.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/plcy-internationalsupplychainsecuritystrategy.pdf
(content researched and contributed by Andrew Hurley)
