Cargo theft in America is not just a matter of a few stolen goods. It is a growing threat to our national and economic security.
As a former senior executive at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, I spent nearly two decades coordinating with other domestic enforcement agencies and foreign partners to strengthen the border and trade security systems that keep our country physically safe and economically secure. Today, one of those systems, our supply chain, is under increasing pressure by organized and sophisticated criminal groups.
When you peruse neighborhood grocery stores, scroll through ecommerce sites, or place orders from big-box retailers, it’s easy to forget that nearly every product you buy travels a long path to get to you. Like blood delivering oxygen throughout the body, America’s connected, integrated supply chains ensure that goods manufactured in one part of the country are available anywhere in America when you need them. These supply chains are the lifeblood of our economy, and they must be protected.
We all got a stark reminder of this during the COVID-19 pandemic. From chicken to toilet paper, socks to slippers, washers to vacuums, basic necessities were harder to find and more expensive due to the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19. That’s why the federal government deemed supply-chain workers “essential,” akin to doctors and nurses.
Today, cargo theft presents a new kind of disruption. And although this threat is different from a global pandemic, its risks are no less consequential. What’s at stake is more than just a single shipment of appliances, auto parts, or consumer packaged goods. Rather, these criminals threaten the integrity of America’s supply chains — supply chains that serve as the foundation of our economy and which keep American families clothed, connected and fed.
Earlier this year, a truckload of nearly 300,000 eggs destined for Florida were instead picked up in Maryland and diverted to New York by thieves who used a sophisticated fraudulent carrier scheme. Last summer, in a suburb of Cincinnati, criminals used stolen trucking-company identification data to disguise themselves as a carrier that a scrapyard had done business with in the past. They proceeded to load up $130,000 worth of rubber-wrapped cable that was supposed to be headed to a copper processing plant.
All told, criminals like these cost the American economy billions of dollars. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, 2023 alone saw losses of “more than $1 billion,” and in 2024 “cargo crimes increased to an all-time high, up 27 percent.” The bureau estimates that currently the average individual theft causes losses greater than $202,000.
So America’s distribution and transportation networks are increasingly the target of organized criminal groups — and that’s a threat to every American who buys or sells anything.
Given the stakes involved, we need a federal solution to address cargo theft before it is too late. Local police and private security firms may not have the manpower, resources or time to investigate multi-state criminal networks. But through the increased, deepened involvement of federal agencies and departments like the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice, and the FBI, working in partnership with local police and the private sector companies that maintain and operate these supply chains, we can build out the coordinated, integrated and resourced response that this moment demands.
Fortunately, there is already a bipartisan proposal that can help by providing the needed resources to better address and prevent cargo theft: the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.). This bill would provide authority and resources to create cross-agency and private and public coordination to combat this economic and national security threat. The bill, which has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, has strong support from law enforcement and supply-chain leaders, and it needs to be a congressional priority this fall.
During my time with the Department of Homeland Security, I saw firsthand how effective federal, state, and local agencies and officials can be when they partner with the private sector to protect America’s economy. That formula — which has proven effective in other areas of commerce, like better enforcement of intellectual property right laws, identifying and stopping suspicious shipments, and increasing the efficiency of customs procedures (as just a few examples) — is needed to further safeguard our supply chain from the escalating economic and national security threat posed by organized cargo theft.
Criminals aren’t waiting for Congress to act, so it must act quickly. To defend and protect our economy, homeland and supply chains, we must come together to pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act.
Michael Huston is a former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
