A Review of Container Security Initiative in Taiwan

A Review of Container Security Initiative in Taiwan

  The 9/11 attacks indicated that terrorist groups are using innovative ways to intimate people. It is also likely that these groups use maritime containers to ship dangerous items, perhaps even Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). To counter this risk, the U.S. Customs Service, now U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched the Container Security Initiative (CSI) in 2002. 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. The main purpose of CSI is to protect the security of the global supply chain. Kaohsiung and Keelung, two of the largest ports of Taiwan, joined the CSI in 2005 and 2007, respectively. This paper examined the CSI operation in Taiwan by using semi-structured interviews of CSI staff and field observations. Terrorist threats and the effectiveness of the CSI are examined accordingly.