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Janet Napolitano is resigning from her position leading the Department of 91ÊÓƵland Security, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Efforts to protect the nation’s transportation system from terrorist attack should promote information sharing between the public and private sectors and focus on areas most at risk, a trucking executive told a Congressional panel.

Cargo theft is on the rise, and, thanks to various reporting groups, we carriers, shippers and consignees are now able to track theft patterns and take steps to reduce our chances of being involved in such incidents.

While change, churn and modernization may have become the mantra for much of the freight transportation industry, for managers working in damage prevention and claims, the most basic truth endures: Don’t ruin your shippers’ freight.

In the 10 years since terrorists crashed airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the nation has rebuilt and moved on, but with a greater emphasis on security of all kinds, including for ground-based freight transportation.

Already several years behind deploying biometric card readers to identify transportation industry workers at the nation’s ports, the Transportation Security Administration is not expected to issue a proposal for regulating the devices until late 2012.

A new Senate bill would suspend the July 2012 deadline for scanning all cargo bound for the United States.

Earlier this year, we were once again reminded that the United States continues to face the possibility of a terrorist attack on our soil, a threat that hasn’t abated in the decade since 9/11.

With cargo theft on the rise, trucking companies such as Schneider National and Con-way Inc. are relying on the latest technology — as well as increased collaboration with security consultants, insurers, shippers and law enforcement — to fight criminals who have become more sophisticated.