Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge at the Custom and Border Protection Trade Symposium

Release Date: 11/20/03 00:00:00

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 20, 2003

Thank you so much.  Thank you very much.  Commissioner, those were very, very generous introductory remarks.  I thank you for them.  I think I certainly have a long way to go to prove them to be true and credible, but because you said them, at least this audience I'm sure believes they're true and credible.  

(Laughter.)

Because I think you have that relationship with the folks in the trade community as a strong advocate, a credible advocate, a partner.  And I also thank all of you for your warm reception and for your participation in the events of the day.

I've come into these buildings and run into so many people who are about the business of homeland security every single day, and actually have been about the business of homeland security long before we put the department together.  But now they're in a single department with that primary goal.  And so many of the initiatives, like everybody at the top of the ladder is often even overly credited for, conceptualizing and putting into place and then operating, the initiatives that Commissioner Bonner talked about, well, out there with my strong support and my involved a little bit in the planning, but for the leadership of the Commissioner and the folks at Customs and Border Patrol, we wouldn't have enjoyed I think the rather remarkable success in such a short period of time across the board.

I'm just, to a certain extent if you great conductors that are recognized in the musical world as being at the top of their game normally have some of the most accomplished musicians that they help them create that sound for which the conductor is given credit.  So I've got quite a few very accomplished people on our team, and Rob Bonner is certainly one of them, and the team he's put together here.

So thank you all for giving me a chance to interrupt your lunch, unless the salad is the entree, I don't know.  

(Laughter.)

If it is, you're eating a lot healthier than most folks, but I won't presume that it is.  But I am grateful to have the chance to speak to you, particularly in building named after one of the greatest champions of free trade and freedom the world has ever known, President Ronald Reagan.  And I certainly want to thank Commissioner Bonner for his introduction today, but as well for his service to the Department and the country every single day.

And finally, I do think it's important publicly to acknowledge and thank all of the people from Customs and Border Protection and throughout the Homeland Security Department, 180,000 strong, ladies and gentlemen, who ever day go to their office or go to their place at the border or go to their place at the airport or go to their assignment with one thing in mind, and that is to make their slice of homeland security the most secure piece of America for the time that they're on duty.  We've got a lot of people going to work and working hard and smarter every single day to accomplish that goal.

And I'm pleased to announce with the Commissioner an important new initiative that will improve both the security of our nation and the efficiency of trade and commerce.  But make no mistake, this is not just about trade, this is about survival.

Let me illustrate for a moment.  Forty-one years ago today, the world breathed a little easier.  On that day, President Kennedy lifted the naval blockade on Cuba, ending the Cuba missile crisis.  Now I know most of you are probably too young to remember that, but 41 years ago today.

And as students of the military know, a blockade is an act of war.  And by taking away the ability to trade, you threaten a nation's way of life; you can threaten the very survival of a country by reducing or eliminating trade.

Now the terrorists who have declared war on America know this, they know this as well.  They understand that our strong military is made possible by our economic strength and leading edge technologies.  Osama bin Laden has repeatedly urged his followers to destroy the American economy, and they took a run on it on September 11th, 2001.  The impact was enormous, but a blip on the screen, caused us a lot of obviously the horror and the death and the destruction and some economic challenges, but they failed, and they will try again, and we must be ready.

But we also must be smart.  The deadly threat of terrorism does not justify Draconian measures.  We could -- we could pass regulations that would so tightly constrict legitimate trade and commerce that our economy would slow to a crawl.  Yes, such rules might prevent a terrorist attack someday, but such rules would also cause economic dislocation and disruption every day, literally in every corner of the globe.  To cripple our economy without firing a shot, that's not just counterproductive, that's a terrorist's dream, and that should be our nightmare.

And as we protect lives, we must also protect our way of life.  We cannot allow terrorists to blockade America.  We must encourage trade and facilitate commerce even as we take steps to prevent terrorism, reduce our vulnerabilities, and prepare ourselves to respond and recover from an attack.  And we must do it together.

So this effort calls for a robust partnership between the public and private sectors.  Communication and coordination with businesses in every level of government, and incentives to help business secure themselves, their customers and ultimately your entire supply chain.  We are dedicated to work with you to achieve all three goals.

Now just after the 9/11 attacks, Commissioner Bonner pledged that the battle against terrorism is and will be our highest priority.  And I will tell you that the Commissioner and Customs and Border Protection have certainly kept that pledge.  I can recall the Commissioner and I were talking about it.  We've had several meetings together.  

Some of us met in the Roosevelt room and shortly after in the White House, but shortly after the President sent the legislation creating the department to the White House, I think Commissioner Bonner and I had a conference call with dozens of you, and again reaffirming our commitment to making sure that as we go about securing America, that we would do it in a way, and if we did it correctly, we could secure America but also facilitate the legitimate flow of goods and services and people across our borders.  

And I think every single day, Customs and Border Protection works at achieving that balance and achieving that goal.  

CBP inspectors provide one face at the border.  They examine all people and cargo entering the country and looking to stop terrorists and detect potential weapons of mass destruction.  And essentially our governing and organizing philosophy within the department and certainly something that Commissioner Bonner does is about -- the philosophy is around managing the risk.  Folks in the business community understand all about risk management.

So we deploy our finite resources and manpower to target the highest risks and prevent the most catastrophic, the most deadly scenarios.

Now let me describe the typical journey of a cargo container.  Now you're CBP inspectors will screen 100 percent of shipped containers, collecting their manifest 24 hours in advance of being loaded in foreign ports.  They run this information through our automated targeting system, which compares it against law enforcement data, the latest threat intelligence and information on ships and cargo from the Coast Guard and other places and other information that preceded it.

They'll look for trends and they'll look for red flags, such as mislabeled cargo or a record of past violations that might cause a container to be labeled high risk.  

If they identify those, they are separated out for further examination.  More often than not, they are non-intrusive inspections, and/or we might open the container.  If something's even more problematic, we'll open the container inside the container.  This process resulted in some successful hits over the past couple of months.

On July 9th, our inspectors in Portland, Oregon seized a cache of weapons bound for El Salvador.  In January, our inspectors stationed at the Port of Rotterdam assisted Dutch customs in the seizure of more than 100 military tank periscopes.  In both cases, ATS played a key role.

Now CBP draws on a legacy, I think a very credible and length legacy of interaction with the business community, dating back to America's founding.  In 1789, and I know none of you remember this.

(Laughter.)

SECRETARY RIDGE:  Captain James Weeks sailed his cargo vessel from Italy into New York Harbor.  This might be on a trivia question or if you're ever on one of those game shows on TV, you may want to remember this.  It was Captain James Weeks from Italy in the New York Harbor.  He paid the U.S. Treasury Department its first customs duty.  And don't all of you who pay customs duty wish that it would have been $774.41 on a ship laden with cargo?  Obviously, today things are a little bit more complicated and a touch more expensive.

We now have 350 official ports of entry, 16 million containers every year, more than $2 trillion of imports and exports crossing our borders.  And we've gone from $774 and change to about $23 billion in duties and fees that were collected last year.

We all know globalization has created an infinite number of trade possibilities.  Ten years ago, fewer than 100,000 small businesses exported their products abroad.  Today, more than a quarter of a million do.

We are just so connected.  Recently I boarded a ship in New Orleans Harbor.  The ship was registered in Singapore, the crew was from India, the cargo was American grain and it was on its way to Japan.  I mean, if there isn't a metaphor of a picture of the nature of how this economy is global and how we're interconnected, I can't think of a better one.

So you and I operate in a very challenging environment, but I think certainly together, we're up to the task.

Now our Customs and Border Patrol inspectors apply years of experience forged in an ongoing fight as well as years of expertise gained.  Remember, we still fight to keep out illegal drugs, arms and merchandise and currency off our shores and on our streets.  And they have begun very aggressively to integrate old functions in a new way, we think yielding new and better methods to secure our fellow citizens and our way of life from harm.

They've done an extraordinary job with the tools they have, but today, Commissioner Bonner and I are proud to announce we're going to give them new tools for this new era to combat this new threat.  The final rules of the Trade Act of 2002.  

It will require advance information on all cargo coming into or leaving the United States by any mode of transportation:  Air, ship, rail or truck container.

It will insist that the information be thorough so that we can allow our inspectors to classify shipments by risk.  We're going to insist that it be sent electronically.  This is a very important change.  We know much of the cargo entering the country, particularly by air and truck; we know you still rely on paper records.  We know it slows down inspectors and recordkeeping as well.  It also slows down response time.

This rule will allow us to screen all commercial cargo, not just ship containers, through the automated targeting system.

Now we also understand we need to take a very practical approach toward working with the trade community, and that's exactly what we're doing.  We understand that one size doesn't fit all.  All modes of transportation are not created equal.  Ships take days to get to their destination.  Airplanes can take just a couple of hours.  Their loading and unloading procedures differ accordingly, as do the expectations of their suppliers and their buyers.

And I think the final rule is, again, to the credit of the trade community, Rob Bonner and the folks that work these rules out, the final rules take this reality into account.  They were obviously designed following extensive input from the trade community and extensive analysis by experts from CBP and elsewhere.

I do want to note the work done by the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations.  I suspect some of those folks are here.  But I really tip my hat to you.  It took a long -- I know this has been a long, cumbersome, most enjoyable process.

(Laughter.)

SECRETARY RIDGE:  You've never had so much fun working with government, being engaged in such a terrific way.  Well, we know it took a long time.  We had to, to get it right.  

We do want to do things quickly.  We do have a sense of urgency, but it's better to do it right than to do it quickly, because we don't want to have to revisit these.  Down the road, we may have to make modifications.  But we thank you for your work on behalf of the private sector in helping us write sensible rules.

Ships will be given 24 hours prior to departure from the port where they are laden to collect and deliver the information.  Air and courier freight will have two hours prior to departure from the U.S., or four hours prior to arrival.  Rail transporters will be given two hours prior to the train's arrival at the border or port of entry.  And trucks scheduled to arrive at the border will have one hour to send the information.

To some especially, and we know that for trucks and airlines, the change does bring some new costs.  Trucks may see offsetting savings from lower fuel costs and reduced wait times at the borders.  For airlines, we think the higher level of security and trust may in the long term prompt more people to send cargo by air.

But in each case, we assure you we will work closely with the trade community to make sure the rules work for everyone, for you as well as for the rest of the citizens of the country, as we balance security and commerce.  

I think we've made it a priority to do that, to find common ground with you and we've done it.  And we've attempted to make the business case for homeland security.  Now some believe homeland security for businesses is a zero sum game.  Our Office of Outreach to the Private Sector, Office of the Private Sector, Al Martinez-Fonts, joins us today, we don't believe that.  We believe that we disagree with -- basically, we disagree with the notion that if you follow rules and you put in new systems or you hire someone, basically you subtract it from the bottom line and you're not supposed to feel good about that, because you view it as some kind of loss.

We don't think that's the case.  We take a look at your customs trade partnership against terrorism.  Many of you are members.  We take the word "partnership" very seriously.  First, the company works with us to create a security profile.  From there, we help you examine your entire supply chain -- importers, carriers and brokers.  And where security needs to be tightened, we work with a company to make it happen, we focus on results, but we encourage creativity and we tailor solutions to individual needs.

Since Commissioner Bonner initiated this program at the 2001 trade symposium, nearly 5,000 companies have joined, eager to reap the economic benefits of improved security.  

I don't necessary need to get involved in the names of the companies, but I was involved with -- saw some friends from a company last night, and they were involved in the program, and they said one of the reasons they were so anxious to get it up and operational is a couple of their competitors were involved in the program, and I suspect if I'd have talked to the competitors, they would have said, well, we need to get this moving as rapidly as possible because these other folks are getting it done.  

So we like that competition.  We all ought to compete to get into this program as quickly as possible.  And companies that are validated under this program and their high standards can qualify for time and money saving incentives, such as fewer exams, and access to our fast lanes at the borders.

This is significant, because under the new rules, trucks that qualify for fast lanes don't have to send their security information until 30 minutes before their arrival, in half the time.  Reaction to this initiative has been very positive, and participants do report many benefits.

One member city joined to be a good corporate citizen but quickly realized the economic advantages to be gained, especially if you agree to the security protocols, you get to the border, we get that manifest a half hour ahead of time, take a look at it, target it, and bingo, you're through the fast lane.  I don't know how much money the trucking copies expend on diesel as the trucks are lined up waiting for a while to get through the other lanes.

So we want you to look at it, because we think it's a win-win-win.  Stronger partnerships, improved communication and real economic benefits.  It's the kind of program we encourage and replicate throughout the department and the country.

And perhaps the greatest benefit is the example it sets for the rest of the business community.  Companies that join this program are leaders.  They set the bar high for those will follow, and they offer proof that homeland security can actually add, not detract, from the bottom line.

After all, businesses, you all spend millions and millions of dollars to advertise your reliability to customers.  What better advertisement could there be than a secure and reliable supply chain from top to bottom?  It seems to make pretty good business sense to us.

So we think there's a strong connection between economic prosperity and homeland security.  Some of Commissioner Bonner's remind us all the time with one of their favorite sayings, a container at rest is a container at risk.  We've got to keep these things moving through the chain and get them delivered and get the contents out and about.

Like you, DHS wants to keep these containers moving, from shipper to purchaser, manufacturer to retailer and not sitting idle in warehouses or on docks.  Just in time delivery has a security imperative as well as an economic one.  We must give would-be terrorists less time and fewer opportunities to plot and to tamper with our goods.

We have a great deal of work ahead of us.  We are attempting a nationwide sea change after relative complacency, and we are accustomed to the old way of doing business.  So achieving the levels of security we envision will take some time.  But I think we're making a lot of progress.  

We've got those Smart Border agreements with Canada and Mexico very aggressively being initiated.  Hard work and negotiations with the many stakeholders involved, both public and private, from each nation I think can lead -- can help us build transportation and technology infrastructure needed to make the Smart Borders a reality.

We can promise the latest technology and innovation, such as electronic seals and tamper-evident containers.  And some of you are actively working on this with us.

But technology succeeds only when it becomes practical.  And so we will leverage the scientific and academic and business communities to get solutions out of the prototype stage and onto the market, onto an affordable market.

Congress has given us hundreds of millions of dollars to invest in the science and technology of homeland security in operations such as -- in initiatives such as Operation Safe Commerce dealing with security of these shipments is part of that investment.

And finally, we can promise long-term partnerships with the business and trade communities, but a permanent structure must be put in place.

And I just want to say something to you on this subject, because we received a lot of letters.  You keep calling the Commissioner, you keep writing to Customs and Border Patrol.  Over the last six or eight months, we have begun discussions internally on a regional concept to integrate and coordinate efforts across all mission areas, not just Customs and Border Patrol, but across all mission areas.

We have nearly 300 million stakeholders in that process, all citizens, all walks of life, doing everything we do in America.  You must know that Commissioner Bonner and Customs and Border Patrol are committed to maintaining the uniformity.  We're talking regions, but we are committed.  I want to save you some postage.

(Laughter.)

SECRETARY RIDGE:  That's what I'm trying to do here, so listen carefully.  We are committed to maintaining the uniformity of standard trade and tariff policies for each and every port, whether you ship from New Orleans or New York, there will be no surprises.  I can assure you that the regions -- the job of the regions will be to execute a national policy the way we define it, not the way anybody at the regions will define it.

So I just want to reiterate this.  Commissioner Bonner and I have had many conversations.  A lot of you are very concerned, and a lot of telephone calls, even more correspondence.  Believe me, we will set national policy in the nation's capital, but with Commissioner Bonner and Asa Hutchinson and the Secretary of Homeland Security absolutely committed to making sure that it is executed consistently across the board.

Now we've looked into the future, we want to take a quick, quick look at how far we've come.  First of all, the idea of a single Department of Homeland Security was something found only in some dust-covered think tank papers, and today it's a robust reality, 180,000 strong.

Two years ago, the thought of U.S. Customs inspectors stationed at 19 of the top 20 international ports to inspect cargo before departure was far-fetched.  Now thanks to the Container Security Initiative and the leadership of CBP, it's becoming a reality.

Two years ago, the idea of a nationwide biometric based system to check visa status was certainly the topic of much discussion but not much action.  By the end of this year, U.S. Visit will be substantially on its way.

Two years ago, the idea of a single agency to collect all threat intelligence and map it against our critical infrastructure, 85 percent of which is owned by the private sector, was not even on the drawing board.  Today it's a reality.

So what about the future?  We will continue to build more bridges to one another and more barriers to terrorists.  We will continue to make economic security as high a priority as homeland security.  We can balance that, but only if we work together.  

And it is this spirit of cooperation and integration that propels our vision forward, a vision for a safe and secure America with progress visible to all, including the terrorists.  A future in which families and schools and businesses are empowered to take an active part in their own protection, and the dedicated civil servants and patriots of Customs and Border Protection, of both the human and the canine variety, will help lead the way.

Now one of these patriots is a fellow by the name of Tom Harrington.  You probably don't know him.  We know him pretty well.  He and his fellow officers work at Boston's Logan Airport.

In September, with help from the National Targeting Center, they apprehended a Guantanamo Bay translator, and he was apprehended carrying dozens of computer disks with all kinds of information that he had no right to have access to.  Tom, who has been with Customs since 1991, put it fairly straightforwardly.  He said, anyone outside that door is family, and you've got to protect your family.  That's what he's doing.

We will protect the family of Americans, and the final Trade Act rules will give us another very useful tool in this effort.

When Great Britain was under siege by Germany with trade at a near standstill with U-boat attacks, Winston Churchill said to President Roosevelt, give us the tools, and we will finish the job.  He did, and we will.

Thank you very much.

This page was last modified on 11/20/03 00:00:00