Bipartisan Security Experts Applaud New Senate Bill to Close Dangerous Security Loophole in the Global Postal System

ASAP coalition calls on U.S. leaders to keep American families safe by closing security loophole that allows 340 million packages a year to enter the U.S. unscreened

Washington, D.C. – Americans for Securing All Packages (ASAP) applauded Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) for recently introducing legislation, the Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, that requires electronic security data to be attached to all packages coming into the country. The legislation is designed to better equip U.S. intelligence agencies to target and stop packages with weapons, biohazards, synthetic drugs and other illegal or counterfeit materials from coming into the country through the United States Postal Service.asap

“Fifteen years after 9/11, we still need to close this gaping hole in our national security safety net. I commend Sens. Portman, Johnson and Ayotte for taking this strong step to prevent terrorists and drug traffickers from using our postal system to send weapons and deadly drugs directly into our communities,” said Gov. Tom Ridge, the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security and Senior Adviser to Americans for Securing All Packages. “I urge Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to support this crucial and necessary legislation.”

“In a new world where drugs are made in labs in China and bought on the internet with a click of a button, we need to get smart with how we monitor the packages coming into our country,” said Juliette Kayyem, Senior Adviser to Americans for Securing All Packages. “This legislation aligns with our coalition’s bipartisan support for Congress to work to supply our nation with better tools to fight this global war on drugs. By requiring electronic data on all foreign packages coming in from abroad, we can ensure that our postal system is secure from drug traffickers sending potent and deadly packages.”

Currently, intelligence and law enforcement agencies do not receive vital security data for approximately 90-percent of all packages shipped into the United States, ultimately allowing terrorists, drug traffickers, and other bad actors to ship anything from weapons and biohazards to toxic drugs into American communities.

Under the Trade Act of 2002, Congress authorized the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to receive advance electronic security data on all packages entering the United States. The Air Cargo Advance Screening System (ACAS) took another step to bolster the data collection program by specifically targeting dangerous goods. While the private sector, including businesses like FedEx and UPS, quickly adopted technology to conform to these security requirements and have been shipping packages with this necessary security data, foreign posts have failed to follow suit. Current foreign posts ship approximately 340 million packages through the USPS to the United States every year without following adequate security measures.

About Americans for Securing All Packages

Americans for Securing All Packages (ASAP) is a bipartisan coalition composed of families, health care advocates, national security experts, businesses and nonprofits who believe it is time for the U.S. government to take action and ensure that all packages being shipped to the United States from any foreign postal service are adequately screened before arriving on the doorsteps of unsuspecting Americans.

Learn more about ASAP by visiting SecurePackages.org or following @SecurePackages on Twitter.

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