After missing a deadline by the better part of a year, the Transportation Security Administration is releasing its air cargo security rule this week and giving the air cargo industry only six months to phase in the changes.

The final air cargo rule will require background checks of freight forwarder employees, expand secure areas at airports to include air cargo property and ramps and create a TSA-managed known shipper database.

The rule was drafted with heavy input from air cargo industry officials, who have decried the long wait for its final release after the draft version came out in November 2004.

"Working with the industry we have set a solid foundation for a major segment of the transportation network," TSA head Kip Hawley said in a statement. "In addition, TSA is working with our partners on a series of separate operational measures that raise security in air cargo."

The changes aren't enough for perennial cargo security critic Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who sponsors legislation that would require all cargo moving on passenger planes to pass through screening like luggage does.

"While passengers take off their shoes, walk through metal detectors and send all their luggage through scanning machines before they board their flights, billions of pounds of air cargo is loaded onto the very same planes every year without being scanned at all," Markey said in a statement.

The Airforwarders Association worked closely with the TSA and made over forty recommendations for the final rule. Its executive Brandon Fried said, "In such an economically important and time-sensitive industry as air cargo, it is vital that a layered approach is used to ensure safety and security. We will continue to support TSA's risk-based strategy to air cargo and will work closely to distribute information to freight forwarders throughout the implementation process."

Angela Greiling Keane