Holes which were there before this deal, and holes which will remain whether or not this deal is cancelled. They're irrelevant to the argument (although of course not to our nation's security).
"Holes which were there before this deal, and holes which will remain whether or not this deal is cancelled. They're irrelevant to the argument (although of course not to our nation's security)."
Yes, but they're not irrelevant. Who controls the loading and unloading of containers from ships has more control than you'd think.
Inspections are done based on the contents, origin, and other information on containers. A port management company which operates in a number of places, including source and destination ports, has considerable control over the containers.
I don't know what the criteria are for inspections of containers. I doubt that information is public. However, the port operator will know that information. Control of both ends of the shipping process is one way to bypass these inspections, I'd bet.
Again, I don't have any details. I'm just thinking about how something like this might slip past the security stuff.
I wish we could inspect 100% of containers. That's not going to happen, I realize.