TSA setting up cargo screening system.

The Transportation Security Administration has a congressional mandate to screen 100 percent of air cargo traveling on passenger airlines by August 2010.

President Bush signed the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, which spelled out the requirement, into law last August. The clock is ticking for the department, which has been infamous for missing similar deadlines in the past--although this one will fall after the current administration leaves office.

The law calls for TSA to "provide a level of security commensurate to that of passenger baggage."

That means inspecting each individual piece of cargo and not using such methods as data mining to search for suspicious shipments as Customs and Border Protection does with shipping containers arriving at ports.

The solution will not be sending each piece through an X-ray machine at the airport, said a TSA powerpoint presentation distributed by the Airports Council International of North America.

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"Screening capacity at a single point in the supply chain is not sufficient enough to accomplish this requirement without resulting in significant carrier delays, cargo backlogs and transit time increases," the presentation said.

Instead, the onus will be put on shippers, warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturers who will fall under the certified cargo screening program. Cargo will be screened at various points in the supply chain to prevent bottlenecks at airports.

Participation for shipping companies will be voluntary. If a company participates, its facility where it does self-screening must adhere to TSA security standards by "maintaining the integrity of a shipment throughout the supply chain."

Facilities will be subject to TSA inspections.

The agency is in the first phase of deployment at a few select facilities.