CSI Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet
When was the Container Security Initiative developed and why?
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, U.S. Customs Service, now U.S. Customs and Border Protection, began developing antiterrorism programs to help secure the United States. Within months of these attacks, U.S. 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 U.S.. Under the CSI program, 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, customs administrations 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.
How does CSI work?
CSI addresses the threat to border security and global trade that is posed by potential terrorist use of a maritime container to deliver a weapon. 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 high-risk containers. Those administrations use non-intrusive inspection (NII) and radiation detection technology to screen high-risk containers before they are shipped to U.S. ports.
What are CSI’s core elements?
The three core elements of CSI are:
Identify high-risk containers. CBP uses automated targeting tools to identify containers that pose a potential risk for terrorism, based on advance information and strategic intelligence.
Prescreen and
When was the Container Security Initiative developed and why?
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, U.S. Customs Service, now U.S. Customs and Border Protection, began developing antiterrorism programs to help secure the United States. Within months of these attacks, U.S. 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 U.S.. Under the CSI program, 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, customs administrations 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.
How does CSI work?
CSI addresses the threat to border security and global trade that is posed by potential terrorist use of a maritime container to deliver a weapon. 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 high-risk containers. Those administrations use non-intrusive inspection (NII) and radiation detection technology to screen high-risk containers before they are shipped to U.S. ports.
What are CSI’s core elements?
The three core elements of CSI are:
Identify high-risk containers. CBP uses automated targeting tools to identify containers that pose a potential risk for terrorism, based on advance information and strategic intelligence.
Prescreen and