Automation station

The Customs and Border Patrol just announced that truck carriers entering the U.S. at any land border ports of entry in the states of California, Texas and New Mexico will be required to present advance electronic cargo information through the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Truck Manifest System. The release notes that ACE is the next generation of CBP technology designed to protect the U.S. from terrorism while ensuring the country’s economic vitality by expediting lawful trade. The electronic manifest, is an electronically filed version of the paper manifest carriers are already required to submit before crossing the U.S. border.

Bottom line, this system should help "pre-screen" cargo and evaluate higher risk shipments, ostensibly thwarting terror threats.

Having watched Fox's 24 series opener earlier this week and the depiction of a nuclear bomb set off by terrorists in Southern California, I hope we never see reality imitate art.