Kansas City Smart Port
I’m here in Kansas City today to learn more about the Kansas City SmartPort Project, a project that has great potential to enhance the city as a regional trade and transportation center. This idea could be enormously important to Kansas City and the surrounding area, and would—or should—facilitate trade for U.S. exporters by expediting the border clearance process for U.S. goods and products exported to Mexico. Goods for export to Mexico would be pre-screened for export here in Kansas City, and would speed through the Mexico border entry points with little or no further inspection. If the Kansas City SmartPort is implemented, Kansas City could become a major new trade link between the U.S. and Mexico.

This morning, I had a good talk with Chris Gutierrez, and the SmartPort Executive Board, about ways the U.S. government, and particularly, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, can help make this happen.

9/11: A Personal Memory
Besides learning about the Kansas City SmartPort, I am glad to have this chance to talk to all of you about the Department of Homeland Security, and within the DHS, my agency—U.S. Customs and Border Protection—to tell you a bit about the largest reorganization of our federal government in over 50 years, and what we are doing to better secure our borders—and make America safer.

Perhaps, I should start at the beginning.

As Bob mentioned, I was nominated by the President to be the Commissioner of United States Customs Service four years ago, in May 2001. I had my confirmation hearings before the Senate in July, and I arrived in Washington on September 10, 2001.

While I awaited Senate confirmation, I was working in a temporary office at the Treasury Department, which is next door to the White House. That’s where I was at 9:35 a.m. on the morning of 9/11 when the sirens went off to evacuate the building.

Just before exiting the fourth floor at Treasury, I glanced out the window and saw an enormous plume of black smoke rising from the Mall, to the right of the Washington Monument.

Shortly thereafter, I realized that that plume was coming from the Pentagon, which had just been hit.

Outside of Treasury, on 15th Street, the Acting Treasury Secretary waved for me to get into his car, and we proceeded to the command center at Secret Service Headquarters, a few blocks away. I immediately established contact with U.S. Customs Headquarters, and began my duties as Commissioner in earnest.

At about 10:05 a.m., I directed that U.S. Customs should go to Alert Level 1, the highest level security alert short of actually shutting down our borders.

U.S. Customs itself was struck directly by the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Our Customs House at 6 World Trade Center was destroyed on 9/11 when the North Tower fell upon it. This photo was taken from a U.S. Customs Blackhawk helicopter two days after the attack. Fortunately, all our 800 Customs employees escaped alive.

On September 19, I was confirmed by the Senate, and the day after being sworn in, I went to New York, to Ground Zero, where I visited the World Trade Center site, and I spoke with our stunned and somber Customs employees in New York. The image of the U.S. Customs House—what was left of it—and of Ground Zero—will stay with me forever. For, in that smoldering rubble piled several stories high, I knew—we all knew—several thousand innocent people were entombed.

9/11 changed the world. It changed the way we view national security. On the morning of 9/11, I also realized that my agency’s mission had been dramatically altered. It was clear to me that the priority mission of U.S. Customs had changed from the interdiction of illegal drugs and regulation of trade, to a national security mission—preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from getting into the United States.

This is the issue that has consumed my thinking and energies for close to four years now.

Protecting our borders is no longer just a matter of national sovereignty. In the post-9/11 era, it is a matter of national security. Protecting our borders was always important, but in this age of global terrorism, it is essential.

And, today, I want to talk with you about some of the actions United States Customs and Border Protection is taking at our borders—and even beyond our borders—to increase our ability to detect and prevent terrorist attacks in the U.S.

The Big Idea: Government Reorganization
After 9/11, one of the most important steps President Bush and Congress took to defend against global terrorism was to establish the Department of Homeland Security. One of the biggest—and best—ideas of the Homeland Security Reorganization was creating one frontline border agency—one agency within the Department of Homeland Security to manage and secure our “borders.”

That agency is United States Customs and Border Protection, or CBP.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a merger of all personnel and functions of all frontline border agencies of the United States—immigration inspectors, customs inspectors, and agriculture inspectors—and the entire Border Patrol.

With 42,000 employees, CBP has about one-fourth of all of the personnel of the Department of Homeland Security. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, when one considers the importance of the security of our borders, to the security of our homeland.

CBP’s mission is homeland security. That means our priority mission is preventing terrorists and terrorists weapons, including potentially Weapons of Mass Destruction, from entering our country.

The “Border” Defined
Let me give you an idea of the magnitude of CBP’s job, and what I mean when I talk about “the borders.”

Keep in mind that, by law, every person, every thing, every vehicle that enters the U.S. must come through, and be cleared by, CBP for all purposes—customs, immigration, agriculture produce, and importantly, anti-terrorism.

America’s “borders” consist of all official crossing points into the United States. That includes 317 official ports of entry. These are the only places that people, vehicles and goods can legally enter the United States. That includes all our international airports from JFK, LAX to KCI.

It includes all of our nation’s seaports from the port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, to the ports of Baltimore and Charleston on the East Coast.

It includes all of the 130 land border ports of entry or crossing points from Port Angeles, Washington, on our northern border to Calais, Maine. From San Ysidro, California, on the Mexico border, the largest land border crossing point in terms of volume of people and vehicles in the world, to the Brownsville port of entry in Texas.

And, we have CBP’s Border Patrol stationed in between the land ports of entry responsible for securing between the ports of entry, along our 2,000-mile land border with Mexico and our 4,000-mile plus land border with Canada.

Now, with that geography in mind, let me lend some perspective to the sheer volume of people, cars, trucks, rail cars, and cargo ships that CBP handles.

Each year, 70 million people arrive at our airports. Nine (9) million sea containers arrive at our seaports. One hundred twenty (120) million cars and 11 million commercial trucks arrive at our land ports of entry. From the numbers, you can see the enormity of the problem—or the “challenge,” as they say in Washington.

In terms of CBP resources to do the job, we have over 30,000 law enforcement officers stationed at our borders—20,000 CBP Officers at our ports of entry, and 11,000 CBP Border Patrol Agents stationed between our ports of entry.

Because we are at the border, Customs and Border Protection Officers have the broadest law enforcement authority of any law enforcement agency in the U.S., bar none.

We have the historic Customs authority to search every person, vehicle, car, truck, cargo shipment—moving by land, sea or air—without warrant, probable cause, or suspicion. We have the authority to detain and question everyone entering the U.S. And, we have the immigration control authority to refuse admission to the U.S. to any non-immigrant alien.

While we have enormous authority and the largest number of trained law enforcement personnel in the federal government—and while we can—and do—question and inspect very large numbers of people, cars, trucks, sea containers and cargo, we can’t scrutinize and inspect everything and everyone, without choking off the flow of legitimate trade and travel, without shutting down our economy.

This was the lesson of 9/12 and 9/13, 2001, when by going to the highest level security alert, we virtually shut down our borders. Wait times to cross the major bridges from Canada—at Detroit and Buffalo—shot up from 10 minutes to 12 hours overnight.

We had to figure out a better way to secure our entry points and ports, but without choking off trade and travel—indeed, making it more efficient. That’s what I have called our Twin Goals: security and facilitation.

And, we are achieving these Twin Goals by employing better detection technologies, managing risk, and through a layered, defense-in-depth strategy that pushes our borders—our zone of security—out beyond our physical borders. So that we know who and what is headed our way before they arrive. So that our borders are our last line of defense, not our first. It’s a strategy that uses strategic intelligence to tell us which shipments, trucks, vehicles, and people need greater scrutiny.

U.S. Strategy to Secure and Facilitate Trade and Travel
So, there is a strategy to secure and facilitate the cross border movement of people and goods. The strategy is based upon four interrelated initiatives: the 24-Hour Rule; the Automated Targeting System, housed in CBP’s National Targeting Center; the Container Security Initiative (CSI); and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT).

Here’s how they work:

• After 9/11, we required advance electronic information to be submitted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection on all cargo containers shipped to the U.S., by sea, 24 hours before they depart foreign ports for the U.S. This is the 24-Hour Rule.

  We also require advance electronic information on shipments by other modes of transportation—truck, rail and air. And, we receive advance information on all airline passengers flying into the U.S. from abroad.

• To evaluate this information for risk, especially terrorist risk, we built the Automated Targeting System that is housed at CBP’s National Targeting Center.

  We use targeting rules based on strategic intelligence to evaluate all cargo containers for terrorist risks before they are loaded and shipped to U.S. seaports.

  We also evaluate all air passengers traveling to the United States for terrorist risk.

• Starting in January 2002, we have reached out to partner with other countries, and implemented the Container Security Initiative—CSI.

  Through CSI, we have CBP personnel stationed in 36 of the largest ports of the world, ports like Rotterdam, Hamburg, Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Working with these other countries, we identify and inspect high-risk containers at foreign ports before they are loaded on board vessels headed to the U.S.

• And, the fourth initiative is Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, our partnership with the private sector, with major importers and ocean carriers—owners and key participants in the international supply chain.

  Through C-TPAT, the private sector works with us to reach back into the supply chains, to the point of origin overseas in order to increase security, literally from the foreign manufacturers’ loading docks, to the U.S. ports of arrival. In exchange, we give the goods shipped by C-TPAT companies fewer inspections and faster processing through U.S. ports on arrival.

  We began the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism in November 2001 with just seven (7) partners. Today, more than 9,000 companies participate in the program.

  C-TPAT is, by far, the largest and, I believe, the most successful government-private sector partnership to arise from 9/11. That success is a result of the commitment that you, the U.S. business community, have made to partner with us in the effort to protect our nation.

  And, it’s important to note that not one of these initiatives existed before 9/11.

Trusted, Vetted Trade and Traveler Programs
We’ve also implemented trusted, vetted programs for regular travelers and for commercial trucks from Canada and Mexico to the U.S. and vice versa. It is called the Free and Secure Trade or FAST Program. FAST provides expedited crossing for commercial trucks where supply chain security have been adopted, including vetted, pre-approved truck drivers. FAST works both ways.

We’ve also implemented programs for frequent travelers called NEXUS. Individuals give biographical data that are run through the crime and terrorist indexes of both U.S. and Canada. If we conclude that they are no risk for terrorism or smuggling or illegal immigration, they given a NEXUS card. We have a similar program on the Southern Border with Mexico.

Technology to do the Job
In addition, we use more and better detection technology than ever before to identify and prevent terrorist weapons from getting into our country, including, yes, radiological and even nuclear weapons. Al Qaeda with a nuke is the “sum of all fears.” The risk of Al Qaeda getting its hands on a nuclear weapon may be low, but the potential consequences require a zero tolerance policy.

Since 9/11, we have deployed the best available technology at our ports of entry to better detect nuclear and radiological weapons, including installing highly sensitive radiation portal monitors (RPMs) at our ports of entry.

We’re not done, but already, at the Northern Border, 90 percent of commercial trucks and 80 percent of cars, vans, and SUVs must past through highly sensitive Radiation Portal Monitors. On the Southern Border, over 50 percent of commercial and passenger vehicles travel through the Radiation Portal Monitors, and we will be at 100 percent by the end of the year.

Our goal: that every truck, car, and cargo container entering the U.S. will pass through a Radiation Portal Monitor (RPM) or similar device.

And, since 9/11, thanks to President Bush and Congress, we have quadrupled the number of whole container x-ray scanning machines around the country. Before 9/11, we had 40. Now, we have over 160.

I haven’t even mentioned our new strategy for the Border Patrol—using the right combination of Border Patrol Agents and technology to control our borders.

All the initiatives I’ve mentioned are Smart Border initiatives.

All help achieve the Twin Goals—security and facilitation of trade and travel.

Conclusion
Let me wrap this up by saying that after 9/11, we knew we had to act to protect our nation, our citizens, and our economy. And act, we did.

We reorganized a huge portion of our federal government. We ratcheted up our border security. We implemented revolutionary initiatives to protect trade and travel—and the U.S. economy.

We have come a long way. We are safer today than we were before 9/11, but we are not yet safe.

One of the greatest threats we face now is complacency. We must not let our guard down. Al Qaeda has vowed to hit America again—even harder than 9/11. Our enemies are patient and focused on killing Americans and damaging our economy.

I’m convinced that we will succeed against the forces of global terrorism. Working together, I believe we will succeed in defeating the terrorists and their threat to our country.

Commissioner Bonner reserves the right to edit his written remarks during his oral presentation and to speak extemporaneously. His actual remarks, as given, therefore, may vary slightly from the written text.