1. A distributed system for scanning cargo and vehicles, the system comprising: a service post comprising a checkpoint having at least one X-ray inspection system and at least one server in data communication with the X-ray inspection system, wherein the at least one X-ray inspection system generates a scan image of the vehicles' contents and comprises an application for importing manifest data of the vehicles' contents and associating the manifest data with said scan image; a plurality of regional centers, geographically remote from said service post, comprising a plurality of servers and inspection monitors; and a routing application, wherein said routing application allocates the scan image from the checkpoint, before said scan image is generated, to at least one of said plurality of regional centers for analysis, wherein said allocation is based upon metadata, transmitted by said plurality of regional centers to said routing application, that is indicative of inspection queue lengths, workload, and contention time in each of said plurality of regional centers, wherein at least one of said plurality of servers in the regional center receives the scan image with the manifest data from the service post based upon said allocation, and wherein said regional center reports to the service post if an alarm condition exists based on an analysis of the scan image and manifest data.