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Creating the Department of Homeland Security: Consideration of the Administration's Proposal
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Mr. Jason Ahearn
Chairman Tauzin, Chairman Greenwood, members of
the Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to testify. Mr. Chairman, I know that the Subcommittee has a
great deal of interest in the Administration's proposal for a new Department
of Homeland Security and the inclusion of the U.S. Customs Service in that
Department. I will tell you what
Commissioner Bonner has told the employees of the Customs Service:
"I fully support the President's proposal and strongly believe that
the new Department of Homeland Security will play a key role in safeguarding the
American people." For over 200 years, the U.S. Customs Service has
defended our country's borders and facilitated international trade and travel.
Since September 11th, at the direction of the President, the
top priority of Customs has been responding to the continuing terrorist threat
at our land borders, seaports, and airports.
I would like to describe for you some of our most significant efforts and
initiatives on that front. Since September 11th, Customs has been
at a Level One alert across the country - at all ports of entry.
Level 1 requires sustained, intensive anti-terrorist questioning, and
includes increased inspections of travelers and goods. To help ensure that Customs forms a coordinated, integrated counter-terrorism strategy for border security, Customs established a new Office of Anti-Terrorism within the agency to coordinate Customs' role within our national security architecture. Customs agents are also working diligently under
Project Shield America to monitor exports of strategic weapons and materials
from the U.S. They are seeking to
prevent international terrorist groups from obtaining sensitive U.S. technology,
weapons and equipment that could be used in a terrorist attack on our nation. To help Customs officers in the field, the
Commissioner also established the Office of Border Security.
The mission of that office is to develop more sophisticated
anti-terrorism targeting techniques for passengers and cargo in the seaport,
airport, and land border environments. Customs has also created the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, "C-TPAT", which is a partnership with some of
the largest U.S. importers to improve security along the entire supply chain,
from the loading docks of foreign vendors to our land borders and seaports.
We were very pleased to have Governor Ridge, Secretary O'Neill and
Commissioner Bonner announce C-TPAT at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit,
Michigan on April 16, 2002. To
date, there are over 250 signatories to this initiative. To complement C-TPAT, Customs developed the
Container Security Initiative which places Customs enforcement personnel in
major foreign shipping ports. The
Customs officers will establish international security criteria for identifying
high-risk cargo containers that potentially pose a risk of containing terrorists
or terrorist weapons. In addition
to having U.S. Customs officers in Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver, Customs has
recently signed an agreement that will place our officers in Rotterdam, Antwerp
and Le Havre. We anticipate other
ports will sign up in the near future. Customs continues to deploy technology necessary
to rapidly and comprehensively inspect arriving and departing people, cargo and
in all port environments and across all modes of transportation.
To date Customs has deployed 87 large-scale non-intrusive inspection
systems along with other technologies that will assist inspectors in conducting
high-confidence, non-intrusive inspections quickly and efficiently. In
1998, Customs began deploying technology to detect radiological sources.
Since that time, we have deployed over 4,000 personal radiation detectors
and over 200 x-ray van mounted radiation detection units.
This year we ordered over 4,000 additional personal radiation detectors
and have funding for 172 portal radiation detectors and 128 isotope identifiers
for our ports of entry. Customs
is working closely with the Department of Energy to investigate systems and
technology to detect radiological and nuclear materials to enhance our detection
capabilities. Specifically, we are
working with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory and the Special Technology Laboratory. In addition, Customs is engaged with the Department of
Transportation in the Container Working Group, with the U.S. Coast Guard for
targeting sea containers and with the Federal Aviation Administration for
detection technology for cargo and baggage. We
are currently conducting operational field tests of portal radiation detection
systems to determine system capabilities and to develop procedures and response
protocols. A challenge will be our
ability to differentiate between the numerous consumer goods such as cement,
porcelain, potash, and bananas that may give off radiation, as well as medical
isotopes given to humans for detection and treatment of disease and the attempt
to smuggle and/or conceal a second radioactive source. Concerning other possible weapons of mass
destruction, Customs, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, is working
to establish a chemical/biological project to investigate systems and
technologies to augment and enhance our existing chemical/biological detection
capabilities. The effective use of technology depends on good targeting, for which we require advance information. The Automated Manifest System, in conjunction with our advanced targeting systems allow Customs to sort through the cargo manifests provided by shippers and carriers, and pick out those that appear unusual, suspect, or high-risk. Legislation currently under consideration
mandates the advance electronic transmission of cargo manifest information.
This will significantly increase the amount and timeliness of information
input into the Customs database, thus enhancing our ability to identify
anomalies. We appreciate the
support the House and Senate have shown for making the advance filing of
electronic cargo manifest information mandatory. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman and the members of the Subcommittee, for this opportunity to testify. We look forward to working with your Subcommittee on this important legislation. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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