Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism
Supply Chain Security Threat - Egypt
The Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program is one layer in U.S.
Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) multi-layered cargo enforcement strategy. Through
this program, CBP works with the trade community to strengthen international supply chains
and improve United States border security.
To enhance communication with its members, C-TPAT routinely highlights security matters for
the purpose of raising awareness and renewing Partners’ vigilance, and recognizing best practices
implemented to address supply chain security concerns.
The purpose of this C-TPAT Alert, generated in
cooperation with BSI Supply Chain Solutions, is to
highlight a convergence of factors tied to weakened
political stability in Egypt that have significantly
increased the threat that terrorist groups will carry out
an attack against critical supply chain elements in the
country and its surrounding waterways, including the
Suez Canal - an artificial waterway connecting the
Mediterranean Sea to Gulf of Suez, and then to the
Red Sea. The Suez Canal is 163 Km. long; its width
varies but it is only 60 meters at its narrowest. The
canal is used extensively by modern ships, as it is the
fastest crossing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian
Ocean.
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Additionally, decreased rule of law throughout Egypt
since the ouster of President Morsi has created an
extremely unstable security environment in the
nation, highlighting the possibility that terrorist
groups could exploit supply chains in the country to
perpetrate an attack abroad.
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The repeated targeting of container ships and
pipelines by terrorist groups in Egypt since July 2013
illustrates their determination to strike the supply
chain, while an increase in arms smuggling into the
country, including the trafficking of more
sophisticated weaponry, underscores the heightened
capabilities of these groups in recent months.
C-TPAT Alert – Supply Chain Security Threat – Egypt – May 2014
Increased Number and Distribution of Terrorist Attacks - BSI has recorded a significant
increase in both supply chain and general terrorist attacks in Egypt since President Morsi was
forcefully removed from office on July 4, 2013. The rate of terrorist attacks has increased most
significantly in Egypt’s sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula, a large desert expanse separating
mainland Egypt from Israel, where more than 300 attacks have occurred since last summer. But
attacks have also occurred in Cairo, the country’s capital, where at least eight successful
terrorist bombings and assassinations have taken place over just the past four months.
In the nine months since President Morsi’s ouster, terrorist groups in Egypt have demonstrated a
heightened intent to attack international supply chains in the country. Terrorists in Egypt have
not traditionally threatened these types of targets, and this trend represents a worrying
development for international supply chain security and the global economy. An attack on a
cargo ship transiting the Suez Canal represents the most high-profile and potentially damaging
supply chain terrorist attack from a global perspective. Such an attack has the ability to disrupt
the approximately eight percent of world trade that passes through the waterway each year.
This figure includes nearly 30 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containerized
cargo, roughly equal to the amount of freight that transits the world’s largest seaports annually.
In late July 2013, an obscure Islamic jihadist
terrorist group known as Al Furqan Brigades
claimed responsibility for an alleged rocket attack
against a ship in the Suez Canal. The group released
a video of the attack the following week, but the
Egyptian government and media did not confirm the
incident. More notably, Al Furqan Brigades
terrorists fired two rocket-propelled grenades (RPG)
at the MV Cosco Asia container ship as it was
sailing through the Suez Canal en route to Europe
on August 31, 2013. Though the Egyptian
government maintained that the ship and its cargo
suffered no damage as a result of the attack, at least
one foreign source indicated that an RPG did strike
the ship and tore a hole in one of its containers.
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Terrorist groups have attacked other supply chain targets in Egypt in recent months as well.
Most notably, another jihadist group known as Ansar Jerusalem (“Protectors of Jerusalem”) has
been extremely active in targeting a natural gas pipeline in North Sinai Governorate in the Sinai
Peninsula. The pipeline transports gas from the mainland eastward to Israel and to a major
cement factory complex with links to the Egyptian military in North Sinai about 30 miles south
of the city of El Arish. Terrorists bombed the pipeline twice in 2013 following President
Morsi’s ouster and have so far attacked the structure four times in 2014.
C-TPAT Alert – Supply Chain Security Threat – Egypt – May 2014
In addition to the recent increases in supply chain terrorist attacks in Egypt, BSI has noted both
a marked rise in the range of targets attacked by terrorist groups in the country and a
strengthening in the capabilities of these groups. In the immediate months following
President’s Morsi’s removal from the presidency, terrorist attacks in the country consisted
almost exclusively of small arms attacks against soldiers at checkpoints in North Sinai and
bombings and assassinations targeting security officials in the Peninsula and occasionally on the
mainland.
However, over the past four months, jihadist terrorist groups for the first time threatened to
strike civilian targets, bombing a tourist bus in South Sinai Governorate in February and killing
three passengers and the bus driver. Terrorists have also carried out increasing numbers of
attacks on the mainland, underscored most notably by the bombing of four targets in Cairo,
including the headquarters of the Egyptian police services, on the same day in January.
The increased capabilities of terrorist groups in Egypt were illustrated most predominantly on
January 25, when Ansar Jerusalem released a video purporting to show its members shooting
down an Egyptian military helicopter with a man-portable surface-to-air missile. The
government confirmed that one of its helicopters had crashed, but it did not state that the
incident was caused by a terrorist attack.
Contributing Risk Factors - The significant increase in supply chain and general terrorist
attacks in Egypt over the past nine months can largely be attributed to a convergence of factors
relating to the persistent state of political instability the country has faced since last July. Most
predominantly, political instability since President Morsi’s ouster has significantly weakened
rule of law in the country, as military and police forces around the nation largely withdrew to
Cairo to support the transitional government. The Sinai Peninsula, which is separated from
mainland Egypt by the Suez Canal, has witnessed the most dramatic decrease in security
following last summer’s political unrest, contributing to the dramatic uptick in terrorist attacks
in this region.
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Further contributing to the heightened terrorist
threat in Egypt has been a major rise in the
smuggling of small arms in the nation. While
arms smuggling in the country subsided to some
degree from 2012 to 2013 as the Egyptian military
regained control of the country following the
ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, the most
recent troop withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula
has enabled smugglers to increase their activities
over the past several months.
C-TPAT Alert – Supply Chain Security Threat – Egypt – May 2014
Though the illegal arms trade in the Sinai
has historically been dominated by secular
anti-government tribesmen, it is very likely
that terrorist groups are playing an
increasing role in facilitating and even
participating in this trade. Israel’s March 5
seizure of a load of Iranian long-range
rockets that were destined for transport
through the Sinai Peninsula to Gaza
demonstrates that anti-Western regimes
view security in the Sinai to be so lax that
they are willing to attempt to smuggle fully
assembled rockets overland across the
Peninsula.
Global Supply Chain Terrorism Threat The increased threat of terrorism targeting
supply chains in Egypt in recent months
comes at a time when terrorist groups
throughout the world are increasingly
targeting supply chain targets in an attempt
to disrupt global trade and international
security. Over the last decade, BSI has
identified more than 600 separate acts of
supply chain terrorism worldwide, with BSI
recording an average of approximately
one attack per week over the past several
years. The increased proliferation of these
attacks on a global scale underscores the
necessity of maintaining proper security
over international supply chains to protect
against such disruptions.
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A number of security weaknesses in the
supply chain in Egypt exacerbate the risk of
a terrorist attack against or through supply
chain elements in the country. Major gaps
in physical security along the Suez Canal
provide numerous opportunities for
terrorists to easily access the canal itself, as
well as smaller boats operating in the
waterway. Al Furqan Brigades’ video of the
August 31 Cosco Asia attack highlights the
ability of terrorist operatives to access the
banks of the canal in order to fire RPGs or
other weaponry at a passing cargo ship.
International security sources continue to
lament the ease of access to other areas of
the canal as well, such as bridges, passenger
ferry terminals, and private boat launches.
The latter represents an extremely worrying
point, as smaller boats could be used to
carry out a waterborne bombing of a cargo
vessel similar to the attack on the USS Cole
in 2000 or the MV M Star in 2010. An
attack of this type is much more likely to
sink an entire ship, likely causing severe
disruptions to cargo transit through the Suez
Canal.
Other supply chain security weaknesses in
Egypt exacerbate the risk that materials
used to perpetrate a terrorist attack will be
imported into the country and highlight the
possibility that such items may be exported
from the nation to carry out an attack
abroad. Criminals routinely exploit the
reduced customs checks at Egypt’s 10 free
trade zones, especially those at the ports of
Said and Alexandria, to smuggle a variety
of contraband items, including weapons,
illegal drugs, and consumer goods, through
the country. Furthermore, the breakdown of
stability in the nation has enabled corrupt
officials involved in the supply chain to
operate with much greater impunity, an
issue highlighted in early February when
authorities arrested the chairman of a
shipping agency group in Suez Governorate
for attempting to import 150 kilograms of
heroin into the country aboard a cargo ship.
C-TPAT Alert – Supply Chain Security Threat – Egypt – May 2014
Recommendations - C-TPAT makes the following recommendations to its Partners in light of
the current situation in Egypt:

Re-assess risk factors for shipments originating in Egypt or transiting through Egypt.

Review current supply chain security protocols to include:
 Minimizing container drop times
 Using C-TPAT certified or compliant carriers and consolidators
 Conducting a robust risk assessment and ensuring chain of custody gaps are
addressed
 Using ISO 17712 high security seals beginning at the point of stuffing
 Considering using dedicated containers versus consolidated shipments
 Conducting thorough seven-point container inspections
 Performing or renewing security and threat awareness training for shipping and
receiving personnel and encouraging and rewarding suspicious activity reporting
C-TPAT Program
CBP.GOV/CTPAT
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20229
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(202) 344-1180
[email protected]
C-TPAT Alert – Supply Chain Security Threat – Egypt – May 2014