The media frenzy over the new Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit which found gaps in Customs and Border Protection’s (CPB) Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program which terrorists theoretically could exploit to smuggle weapons of mass destruction in cargo containers came as no surprise to anyone who has been following this program.

In 2005 - and earlier, in 2003 - GAO had already identified similar problems with C-TPAT.

The flaws in C-TPAT identified by GAO also, authorities say, can have a direct bearing on the on-going problem of misdeclared and mislabeled cargo, a serious security issue HSToday first disclosed in its January 2007 cover story investigation, “Dangerous Cargo.' ....