FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Mr. Chairman, Senator Moynihan. The last time I appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing it was as the nominee for Under Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement. I had come to the post with some familiarity with Treasury's enforcement bureaus, having worked with them during my career in the New York City Police Department.

That relationship, obviously, has become much closer since coming to Treasury. My tenure as Under Secretary has given me a greater appreciation for both the ability and the potential of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, for the Secret Service and for the Customs Service, as well as the other arms of Treasury enforcement.

It has also reinforced for me the importance of cooperation among Federal and local law enforcement generally, and between the Treasury and Justice Departments in particular. There will always be a healthy spirit of competition among the best practitioners of law enforcement. But in the interest of public safety, we must set the rivalries aside and work toward a common end. That has happened between the Treasury and Justice Departments in recent arson and bombing investigations, in counter narcotics efforts, in airline safety, and a whole host of ways that has made for better law enforcement. I encouraged that kind of cooperation at the Treasury Department, and I will continue, given the opportunity to do so, at the Customs Service.

The Customs Service is the nation's oldest law enforcement arm. And it remains, first and foremost, just that -- a law enforcement agency. But much has changed in two centuries -- not the least of which is America's emergence as the world's economic giant, with trade and commerce relationships the world over. America's wealth, and the opportunity that wealth has afforded millions of Americans, is inexorably linked to the free flow of goods and services across borders.

The Customs Service has worked closely with the trade community. I want to strengthen the relationship. I want to make it even closer. It is essential for both the free flow of trade and our enforcement mission. There has been progress. But we can do more. I want to improve the information flow between us, and work out any glitches in the modernization process that may have impeded us in the past. The Customs Service is duty-bound to stop drug dealers, illegal arms merchants and others who traffic in death and addiction for profit. The sheer volume of modern trade makes the inspection of every item entering the United States impossible. We can't do it, and we wouldn't want to even if we could. We need the trade industry's cooperation, and the Customs Service needs to cooperate with it. The Customs Service must also continue to invest in technology -- such as advances in x-rays and other means of inspection to do what human eyes and hands cannot do alone.

The Customs Service, at its core, must be vigilant. We have seen criminal organizations, particularly in narcotics, put entire societies at risk by assaulting and corrupting law enforcement, by manipulating financial systems, and by undermining democratic institutions. It is unimaginable for the same thing to happen in the United States. But one of law enforcement's responsibilities is to plan for unimaginable things; to pursue wrongdoers so the unimaginable remains unimaginable.

The Customs Service needs to stay ahead of the technological curve -- the same technology that organized crime is eager to exploit. The drug cartels would prefer to move their profits as data over fiber optic highways instead of cash over interstate highways. We seize a lot of their money that way. Customs has done some remarkable work in stopping the cartel's latest money laundering activity. Operations Wire Drill, El Dorado and Casablanca were great successes in taking down some of the underworld's most sophisticated money laundering schemes. That kind of good, effective law enforcement needs to continue and expand as criminal organizations seek new ways to move their ill-gotten gains.

I want to compliment the fine men and women of the Customs Service. I look foward to working with these professionals on a daily basis. The Customs Service has done very good law enforcement work. But it can do it better. It can do better by recruiting the best candidates possible for agents and inspectors; by improving training; by investing in and deploying the best technology available, and by building the strongest alliances possible with the trade community.

Above all, the Customs Service must be persistent. It must be dogged in its determination to bring smugglers and other law breakers to justice. That really is the secret to the success of American enforcement -- persistence. We persist. We spend resources in persisting. We provide for a peerless criminal justice system that guarantees everything from a fair trial to humane prison conditions. We tend to spend the money to do it right. We stay the course. That combination of resources and commitment puts law breakers in considerable peril. Criminals in America who are not caught in the act, tend to be caught sometime thereafter.

The fate of any criminal who tries to defeat the Customs Service should be captured -- sooner or later. I envision the Customs Service -- at its best -- as ever vigilant and doggedly persistent. I see the Customs Service making drug smuggling, arms trafficking and money laundering the riskiest of high risk activities, prone to frequent and spectacular failure.

Given the opportunity, I will work very hard to make it so. My professional career has been devoted to law enforcement. I am, therefore, privileged to be nominated as Customs Commissioner and want to publicly thank President Clinton and Secretary Rubin for their confidence in me to take on this important new role. I am happy to answer any questions the Committee may have.