U.S. Rep. David Price saw first-hand the struggles of securing U.S.-bound port cargo during a trip to the Middle East last week.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, led a six-member congressional team to the region, Barb Barrett reports. Among their visits were trips to ports in Alexandria, Egypt, and Salala, Oman, where U.S. officials from the Department of Homeland Security screen cargo before it boards ships bound for the United States.

Price is chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that pays for homeland security.
The overseas cargo screening projects are part of two pilot programs going on right now within the agency, Price said in an interview.

He said that while the programs have been negotiated at the highest levels of government, he learned that challenges remain in the "on the ground" work among DHS officials and local port workers.

"The Department of Homeland Security is not a diplomatic operation," Price said. "It’s complicated to work with these foreign officials especially at the ground level… . It involves diplomatic and managerial skills. … We’re not there yet."

The idea is to loosen clogged ports here in the United States by scanning cargo for radioactive material, explosives and other terrorist threats before it heads to our shores.

The program in Alexandria focuses on high-risk cargo. The program in Salala, which Price said is much further along, aims to do a full screening of all goods moving through the port.

"I'd say I'm very pleased with the process in Salala," Price said. "Alexandria is an example of some of the challenges."

U.S. Rep. David Price is in the Middle East this week on homeland security business.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, left Jan. 4 for the trip, which has so far taken him to Israel, Jordan, Oman and Egypt. He returns Sunday.

Price, who leads the House’s homeland security funding subcommittee, has several issues on his to-do list, said spokesman Paul Cox.

He is visiting foreign ports to see in-person the security work that U.S. officials are doing there to pre-screen cargo bound for the United States. Price also is trying to learn new ideas for homeland security from countries such as Israel that face ongoing threats from terrorism.

And he is taking a look at how U.S. officials abroad are doing in processing the asylum claims of refugees from the war in Iraq.

So far on his trip, Price has met with foreign ministers in Egypt, Oman, and Jordan, and with the prime minister of Jordan, Cox said.

He also is scheduled to meet with Israel’s foreign minister and with business leaders in the Palestinian West Bank.