Container Security Initiative

In order to secure the United States from terrorism attacks US Customs Service created the Container Security Initiative (CSI). The primary purpose of CSI is to protect the global trading system and the trade lanes between CSI ports and the US Under the CSI programme, a team of officers is deployed to work with host nation counterparts to target all containers that pose a potential threat. Announced in January 2002, CSI was first implemented in the ports shipping the greatest volume of containers to the United States. Today, customsadministrations all over the world have committed to joining CSI and are at various stages of implementation. CSI is now operational at ports in North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and throughout Asia. CSI uses a security regime to ensure all containers that pose a potential risk for terrorism are identified and inspected at foreign ports before they are placed on vessels destined for the United Sates. Through CSI, CBP officials work with host customs administrations to establish security criteria for identifying highrisk containers. Those administrations use non-intrusive inspection (NII) and radiation detection technology to screen high-risk containers before they are shipped to US ports.

CSI works to identify threats to global trade and border security by mitigating the risks that terrorists may attempt to use a maritime container for shipping weapons. Officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CPB work alongside foreign government counterparts to target and prescreen shipping containers destined for the U.S.