New York– On 1 July 2026, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), Canada, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) jointly held a side event on aviation security.
The side event explored emerging threats to air cargo and global logistics systems, including the concealment of explosive devices, weapons components, and other dangerous materials in cargo and postal shipments. It highlighted how Member States’ leadership, supported by international cooperation and operational partnerships, can strengthen air cargo security, risk-based screening, and cross-border information-sharing. It also promoted multi-stakeholder collaboration and shared lessons learned from ICAO and UNODC programmes to enhance the protection of international supply chains from terrorist exploitation.
Ms. Carmen G. Cantor, Deputy Executive Director of CTED, highlighted that “attempts to conceal improvised explosive devices and incendiary materials in cargo and postal shipments underscore a persistent threat: the use of global supply chains to facilitate terrorist attacks, including against civil aviation.”
Ms. Henna Shah, Associate Legal Officer at CTED, stressed that “Member States should institutionalize inter-agency cooperation and information-sharing mechanisms and ensure that national threat assessments for cargo and mail are intelligence-led. These assessments should draw on financial intelligence, watchlist data, and pattern-of-life analysis of freight forwarders and logistics intermediaries, rather than being simply reactive to physical screening anomalies.”
Resources
The concept note and agenda for the side event is available here.
You can watch the event .
Photos from the side event are available .
For more information about CTED’s other events at 2026 Counter-Terrorism Week, please visit this page.