§ 981a — Pilot Integrated Scanning System

(1) Not later than 90 days after October 4, 2006, the Secretary of Homeland Security (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall designate three foreign seaports through which containers pass or are transshipped to the United States to pilot an integrated scanning system that couples nonintrusive imaging equipment and radiation detection equipment, which may be provided by the Megaports Initiative of the Department of Energy. In making designations under this subsection, the Secretary shall consider three distinct ports with unique features and differing levels of trade volume. (2) The Secretary shall collaborate with the Secretary of Energy and cooperate with the private sector and host foreign government to implement the pilot program under this subsection. (b) Not later than one year after October 4, 2006, the Secretary shall achieve a full-scale implementation of the pilot integrated screening system, which shall— (1) scan all containers destined for the United States that transit through the terminal; (2) electronically transmit the images and information to the container security initiative personnel in the host country and/or Customs and Border Protection personnel in the United States for evaluation and analysis; (3) resolve every radiation alarm according to established Department procedures; (4) utilize the information collected to enhance the Automated Targeting System or other relevant programs; and (5) store the information for later retrieval and analysis. (c) The Secretary shall evaluate the pilot program in subsection (b) to determine whether such a system— (1) has a sufficiently low false alarm rate for use in the supply chain; (2) is capable of being deployed and operated at ports overseas, including consideration of cost, personnel, and infrastructure required to operate the system; (3) is capable of integrating, where necessary, with existing systems; (4) does not significantly impact trade capacity and flow of cargo at foreign or United States ports; and (5) provides an automated notification of questionable or high-risk cargo as a trigger for further inspection by appropriately trained personnel. (d) Not later than 120 days after achieving full-scale implementation under subsection (b), the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of State, shall submit a report, to the appropriate congressional committees, that includes— (1) an evaluation of the lessons derived from the pilot program implemented under this section; (2) an analysis of the efficacy of the Automated Targeted System or other relevant programs in utilizing the images captured to examine high-risk containers; (3) an evaluation of software that is capable of automatically identifying potential anomalies in scanned containers; and (4) a plan and schedule to expand the integrated scanning system developed under this section to other container security initiative ports. (e) If the Secretary determines the available technology meets the criteria outlined in subsection (c), the Secretary, in cooperation with the Secretary of State, shall seek to secure the cooperation of foreign governments to initiate and maximize the use of such technology at foreign ports to scan all cargo bound for the United States as quickly as possible.