CORCA Cargo Theft Bill Passes House, Awaits Senate Vote

The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) passed the House of Representatives 348-60 in May and now awaits Senate action. The bill would create an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center within Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to coordinate cargo theft and organized retail crime investigations across federal, state, and local agencies.

CORCA does not create a new federal cargo theft crime. Instead, it directs HSI to identify organized theft trends, improve information sharing between agencies, and provide training to investigators. The coordination center would expire after seven years unless Congress extends it.

What does CORCA require Homeland Security to do?

The legislation requires Homeland Security to publish annual reports describing organized retail and supply chain crime nationwide. Those reports must identify crime trends, summarize the center's activities, and recommend ways to strengthen enforcement.

The bill also directs Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to evaluate existing grant programs and recommend additional resources for agencies investigating organized retail crime and cargo theft.

Why Congress says federal coordination is needed

Congress cited National Retail Federation data showing larceny incidents increased 93% between 2019 and 2023 while the average dollar loss per incident increased 90%. The bill also references CargoNet data showing cargo theft incidents increased 27% in 2024 while the average theft exceeded $202,000.

According to the legislation, organized theft groups increasingly use technology to impersonate legitimate businesses, divert shipments, and move stolen freight through organized criminal networks. Lawmakers concluded those crimes disrupt supply chains, affect the national economy, and increase costs for businesses and consumers.

Congress also wrote that organized theft groups frequently operate across state and international borders, making investigations more difficult for individual agencies working independently.

The debate over cargo theft reporting

Critics argue documented cargo theft remains a small percentage of the freight moved across North America each year. They question whether Congress should expand HSI's authority without stronger evidence that organized cargo theft has reached the level supporters describe.

Critics point to an American Transportation Research Institute survey showing 82% of trucking companies and 53% of logistics firms report all cargo thefts to law enforcement. They argue those findings raise questions about whether cargo theft is significantly underreported.

Scott Cornell, chair of TAPA Americas and chief risk officer at SPG Cargo & Logistics, said the survey measures whether companies report thefts to law enforcement but does not address how those crimes are ultimately classified once police take the report. Cornell helped draft the cargo theft language added to CORCA.

"The majority of people report cargo theft to the police, and because there is no UCR, Uniform Criminal Reporting, for cargo theft, it gets diluted into other property crimes around the country," Cornell said.

The United States does not have a standardized cargo theft category within the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting system. Without that reporting category, cargo theft often becomes part of broader property crime statistics.

Cornell said two agencies investigating nearly identical cargo thefts may classify those crimes differently. One department may report the incident as auto theft because a commercial vehicle was stolen. Another agency may classify the same crime as burglary or another property offense. Strategic theft methods such as fictitious pickups, carrier identity theft, and business email compromise may also fall into different reporting categories depending on how investigators classify the offense.

CargoNet data captures trends, not total theft count

Cornell said CargoNet provides one of the best sources of cargo theft intelligence available today, but he cautioned against treating its annual reports as a complete count of every cargo theft occurring across the country.

"The CargoNet reports are a sample size," Cornell said. "They're an effective sample size, and they give us enough to establish the trends. But you can't take the numbers as the actual numbers."

Based on more than 30 years investigating cargo theft, Cornell estimates CargoNet captures roughly one in every 10 full truckload cargo thefts and approximately one in every 15 cargo thefts when pilferage incidents are included. He described those figures as his professional estimate based on decades of investigative experience rather than a government statistic.

Privacy and resource concerns

Some organizations have raised concerns about the legislation's information-sharing provisions. They argue Congress should carefully balance efforts to combat organized crime with privacy protections before expanding cooperation between government agencies and private industry.

Critics also question whether existing federal and state resources could accomplish many of the bill's goals without creating another coordination center.

Industry support reflects field experience

Cornell said he has watched the industry's perspective change dramatically over the past several years. When he began speaking at transportation conferences, only a handful of people in large audiences said they had experienced cargo theft. Today, that response has changed.

"Five, six, seven years ago, I would ask the crowd when I would start my speech, 'How many of you have been affected by cargo theft or experienced a cargo theft?' Maybe 10 to 20 people in a room of 400 would raise their hand," Cornell said. "When I do that now, the majority of the room raises their hand."

Cornell also questioned why transportation organizations, private companies, and law enforcement agencies across the country would support CORCA if organized cargo theft were not a growing problem.

"If cargo theft isn't really a problem, why is every major industry organization talking about it as one of the primary issues their members are asking for help on?" Cornell said.

Cornell pointed to the growing number of cargo theft task forces across the country and support for CORCA from transportation organizations, law enforcement agencies, and private industry. He said that level of support reflects what investigators and transportation professionals continue to experience in the field.

What happens next

CORCA now awaits consideration in the Senate. If the Senate approves the legislation, the bill will move to the president for consideration.

Both supporters and critics agree organized cargo theft affects the transportation industry. The disagreement centers on what documented cargo theft numbers represent. Critics argue the documented losses represent only a small percentage of the freight moved across the United States each year. Supporters argue the current reporting system captures only a fraction of the crimes occurring nationwide, making today's numbers an incomplete picture of organized cargo theft.