FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Good afternoon. Thank you Commissioner Bonner, Governor Engler, and Governor Ridge. And Jack, it's great to be here with you today.

Since the attacks of September 11^th we've insisted on a new level of security at our nation's borders to protect our homeland. And we created a new challenge for our economy - to adopt new security measures without reducing the productivity of American companies. I'm glad to be here today to commend the Customs Service and its private sector partners for rising to that challenge.

Over the past few decades, a key source of productivity growth in our economy has been our increasingly more efficient global supply chain management. American companies have pioneered rapid movement of goods and components around the globe, cutting their costs, increasing their responsiveness to shifts in demand, and making their inventories more flexible. Corporate confidence in the international supply chain is an obscure reality that most American consumers take for granted - but it underpins the low prices and high quality we have come to expect.

The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, C-TPAT, took the lead in developing new methods and procedures to improve both security and efficiency at our borders. This partnership is yet another example of the resilience and innovation that make the US economy the world leader and make me an optimist about our economic future.

You have already heard how the system works. C-TPAT businesses commit to pursuing the very best practices in supply chain security. They work with the Customs Service, and with their own suppliers, to design and implement secure procedures. In exchange, Customs assures them of faster, less costly import processing.

Rather than just accept the conventional wisdom that there is an unavoidable trade off between efficiency and security, this new endeavor is an improvement in both. When we are at our best - both in government and in the private sector - we can accomplish anything we set our mind to. Let me congratulate the seven charter members here today for matching their sense of responsibility with their spirit of innovation to create C-TPAT. They have blazed a trail that we can expect many more American businesses and their suppliers to follow.

Thank you.