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March 7, 2000 9:50 AM, EST

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A federal commission is likely to recommend criminal background checks for people involved in moving freight through the nation’s ports.

The proposal, while expected to be controversial, is among the steps needed to reduce cargo theft, said John McGowan, head of the Interagency Commission on Crime & Security in U.S. Seaports. The commission was created by President Clinton in April 1999 to evaluate the extent of crime in ports, determine the role of government in dealing with the problem and recommend government responses to it.

To fight crime at ports, industry and government must work together to better identify problems and establish consistent means of fighting them, the commission recommended.

“It is clear there are internal conspiracies in ports,” McGowan said Feb. 24 during a Transportation Research Board conference on the future of intermodal transportation. “Someone is telling someone because high-value cargo is being stolen with increasing frequency.”

For the full story, see the Mar. 6 print edition of Transport Topics. .