U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner announced the publication of final Customs regulations requiring sea carriers to provide cargo manifests 24 hours prior to the lading of cargo at foreign ports for shipment to the United States. This information is required in advance to enable U.S. Customs to evaluate the terrorist risk of cargo containers. "Terrorist organizations pose an immediate and substantial threat to the global trading system. This threat is not just to American lives, but to American livelihoods as well," said Bonner. In January, the U.S. Customs Service launched the Container Security Initiative (CSI), a program designed…
