I share this honor with all the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection who work so hard every day at—and between—our ports of entry to protect our nation, and who have done so much to protect our trade lanes and the global trading system—the very means of global trade—through revolutionary supply chain security initiatives.

I am honored to receive this award in the very capable company of my friend Pieter Struijs, who does a magnificent job of overseeing the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest container port—and one of the busiest and most important ports in the world.

The Continuing Threat
I’m pleased to have this opportunity to address maritime industry and government leaders from around the world about a subject that is key to protecting our nations, our citizens, and the global economy from future terrorists attacks—increasing the security of global trade, and especially the security of maritime trade.

As we gather here in New York, just three days after commemorating 9/11, and not far from Ground Zero, the specter of the terrorist attacks on the United States three years ago is still present. It is etched into our hearts and minds.

We still grieve with the families of the 2,933 innocent victims who lost their lives that day. And, in memory of them, for the third straight year, last Saturday, at 8:46 a.m., at my direction, every port of entry of the United States closed for a moment of silence.

9/11 changed America forever. And, it changed the world.

The terrorist attacks were a wake up call to the U.S.—and to all civilized nations—that we must do everything we reasonably—and responsibly—can to prevent that from happening again.

But this threat is continuing. There is credible intelligence that they are plotting an attack in the United States to disrupt our presidential elections.

The United States, however, is not the only target of global terrorists.

As we saw in Djakarta last Thursday. And in Madrid on 3-11. And in Bali and Istanbul.

A planned terrorist attack in the U.K. was thwarted last month.

The consequences of a large-scale terrorist attack in the U.S., however, and its impact on the economies of other countries, would be great.

Canada saw that—not on September 11th—but on September 12th and 13th, when U.S. Customs increased security at our land border ports of entry—our land border crossings—and our mutual border with Canada virtually shut down. Wait times to cross the border mushroomed from 10 minutes to 10 hours almost overnight.

Our maritime “borders” are, of course, our seaports. And the maritime trading system, seaports upon which those in the U.S. and abroad depend, and upon which national economies depend in this era of globalization and global trade, are threatened by global terrorism.

And international, oceangoing cargo containers, because of the potential for concealment of terrorist weapons, and even terrorists themselves, are vulnerable, as national security experts, like my friend Steve Flynn, have repeatedly pointed out.

Each year, more than 100 million cargo containers crisscross our sea lanes, moving in and out of ports around the world.

Every day, on average, about 25,000 containers are offloaded at America’s seaports. That’s around 9 million a year.

These containers have the potential of being the Trojan Horses of the 21st Century.

The threat of a terrorist attack using a cargo container is not academic.

In May, two suicide bombers entered the port of Ashdod in Israel concealed in a cargo container. They killed a couple dozen innocent people.

And, in October 2001, shortly after 9/11, Italian authorities found a suspected al Qaeda operative locked inside a shipping container bound for Canada. The container originated in Port Said, Egypt, and it was equipped with a bed and bathroom, as well as airport maps, airport security passes and a phony airplane mechanic’s certificate.

A terrorist attack involving maritime trade, even one using a conventional, improvised explosive device, could disrupt global trade, and have severe consequences on the global economy. But, we know al Qaeda is attempting to acquire weapons of mass destruction, even a crude nuclear device.

Finding ways to better secure maritime trade, but doing so without impeding the movement of trade through our seaports, has been one of my top priorities since being confirmed as Commissioner, the week after 9/11.

Since 9/11…
And, since 9/11, the United States has done much to increase the security of maritime trade, and in turn, the physical and economic security of the United States and the countries we trade—and partner—with.

Among these measures was the most important reorganization of our government in 50 years—the creation the Department of Homeland Security.

This new Department brought together under the leadership of Tom Ridge, all—or parts—of twenty-two government agencies to perform two quite different missions:

1. to better prevent terrorist attacks in the U.S.; and
2. to respond to and recover from any large scale terrorist attacks that occur.

Although little noted, the Department of Homeland Security reorganization also resulted in creating, for the first time in our country’s history, one agency of the federal government to manage and secure our borders. That agency is, of course, U.S. Customs and Border Protection—or CBP.

Customs and Border Protection was formed by merging the frontline personnel and functions of four federal agencies—Customs, Immigration, Agriculture, and Border Patrol.

CBP is the single, unified border agency—what Secretary Ridge calls “One Face at the Border”—one agency responsible for our borders. One border agency with a clear priority homeland security mission—preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from getting into the United States.

With the creation of CBP, one government agency now clears every person, shipment, vehicle and aircraft—everyone and everything—entering the United States, for all purposes: customs, immigrations, agriculture protection and anti-terrorism. And because Customs and Border Protection exists, our borders are more secure and our nation is safer today than it was three years ago.

Maritime Security Strategy
Since 9/11, as part of our maritime security strategy, together with our partners in the private sector and with other governments, we’ve implemented a number of revolutionary initiatives to better secure maritime trade:

• the 24-Hour Rule,
• the Container Security Initiative (CSI),
• C-TPAT, the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, and
• the National Targeting Center, where we identify and target high-risk cargo shipments.

Every one of these initiatives is designed to make our borders smarter—and to extend our borders by pushing our security measures out beyond our physical borders, so that our ports and our borders are not the first line of defense.

Every one of these initiatives is designed to meet the “Twin Goals” of vastly increasing maritime security, but doing so without choking off the free flow of legitimate trade. These are the guiding lights that have informed our strategy. They make use of technology, advance information extended border concepts, and partnerships to achieve these goals.

None of these initiatives existed before 9/11.

24-Hour Rule
Before 9/11, there was no mandatory requirement that Customs receive manifest data in advance.

Today, under the 24-Hour Rule, it is mandatory that we receive detailed manifest data in advance, electronically, 24 hours prior to lading at the foreign port.

National Targeting Center
Before 9/11, there was no national level targeting of goods headed for our border for the risk of terrorism.

Today, through CBP’s National Targeting Center and our Automated Targeting System, all cargo shipments are evaluated for the terrorist risk.

We use sophisticated methods to identify and target potentially high-risk cargo, including advance electronic information about every cargo shipment to the U.S. before it arrives; strategic intelligence; our vast amount of automated trade data collected over the past 20 years; anomaly analysis, and even the relative security of a shipper or importer’s supply chain is evaluated. For example, C-TPAT certification and validation of point of origin security reduces the risk, and therefore, the targeting score. And, through the Advanced Targeting System, we identify and target all shipments that pose a potential risk.

CBP’s National Targeting System serves as the national hub for these targeting efforts, and gives us advance notice of what is coming our way, so that we can—and do—give greater scrutiny to cargo that poses a potential terrorist threat.

All oceangoing cargo containers that are identified through CBP’s Automated Targeted System as posing a potential terrorist threat are inspected, usually with large-scale imaging equipment and radiation detection devices, on arrival at U.S. seaports, if not before—which takes me to CSI.

Container Security Initiative (CSI)
Before 9/11, there was no Container Security Initiative, no program that required inspection of high-risk containers before they left the ports of embarkation or transshipment.

Today, through the Container Security Initiative or CSI, we assess the risk of every oceangoing container headed for the U.S. before it is loaded of a vessel in a foreign port and before that vessel is bound for our seaports. With our host nation counterparts, CSI permits a security inspection of high-risk containers before they are laded on board vessels destined for the United States.

CSI is the only multinational program in place in the world today that is actually protecting global trade lanes, that is protecting the primary system of global trade—containerized shipping—from being exploited and disrupted by international terrorists.

CSI not only adds security to the movement of cargo containers, but because the targeting, and if necessary, inspection, occurs at outbound ports, rather than at the ports of arrival, the containers move faster and more efficiently through the supply chain.

The Twin Goals: security and facilitation.

We have CSI agreements with 20 nations, and we have CBP targeting teams deployed and stationed in 25 ports outside the United States. That means that CSI is operational in 25 ports. Ports in Europe, Asia, and Africa. These are 25 of the largest container mega ports of the world.

Other governments have contacted us about expanding CSI, and we are working toward implementing CSI in 10 more ports before the end of this year. I believe we will reach this goal.

Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT)
Before 9/11, there was no C-TPAT. No Customs-private sector partnership against terrorism to increase the security of international trade—from overseas loading docks of foreign manufacturers and vendors—to our ports of entry.

Today, there are more than 7,000 companies participating in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism—C-TPAT—companies that have improved the security of their supply chains and have received facilitation benefits for doing so in the form of expedited processing at our ports.

C-TPAT partners include more than 4,000 U.S. importers, representing over 50 percent of all U.S. imports by value. C-TPAT includes nearly all the ocean carriers, many customs brokers, as well as U.S. marine ports and terminals, and recently, we have opened C-TPAT up to foreign manufacturers.

I am pleased to note that many of the companies represented here today are members of C-TPAT.

Under C-TPAT, we are validating the supply chain security commitments of our C-TPAT partners. CBP Supply Chain Specialists are being sent around the world to visit and evaluate C-TPAT members and their suppliers to ensure that their security meets supply chain security minimum standards and best practices.

Smart Box Initiative
We are also moving forward with the Smart Box Initiative, which we began piloting this January with five C-TPAT partners.

The Smart Box involves more than an appropriately placed ISO Standard mechanical security seal, although that would be a good first step. It involves securing cargo containers with an electronic Container Security Device. This is a device that, at a minimum, will allow us to reliably detect tampering with a container en route, and that have a very low rate of false positives.

Technology
Since 9/11, we have added technology and equipment at our ports of entry to better detect nuclear or radiological weapons.

Today, we are moving quickly to equip our ports of entry with nuclear and radiological detection equipment, including highly sensitive radiation portal monitors and isotope identifiers.

These complement the large-scale, whole-container x-ray and gamma ray imaging systems. We have increased the number of these machines at our ports of entry by three-fold since 9/11—from about 45 to 150.

Advanced Trade Data Initiative
We continue to build on all these security measures, which are directly related to improved maritime security.

We have launched another important initiative that will give us even greater visibility throughout the supply chain—the Advanced Trade Data Initiative.

This initiative pushes security back even further into the supply chain, before the 24-Hour Rule. It will tell us where containers have been before they reach a CSI port, to the point of origin.

Through the CBP Advanced Trade Data Initiative, we will:

• identify the true port of origin and all stops along the way;
• identify the real parties in interest associated with a shipment;
• determine the veracity of commodity descriptions; and
• improve our targeting for risks and our analysis of anomalies.

And, like any effective risk management measure, this improved targeting will, of course, help us to reduce inspections and do an even better job of facilitating trade.

Coast Guard and other Federal Partners
We have U.S. government partners also. Our most important partner in maritime security is the United States Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is the lead agency for most of the Maritime Transportation Security Act provisions, and was the leader in getting the International Ship and Port Facilities Security Code adopted by the International Maritime Organization.

The Coast Guard is ensuring that the security of foreign and domestic ports meets minimal standards. As a result of the United States Coast Guard’s efforts, through the International Maritime Organization, seaports themselves are becoming more secure.

That said, it is time to better secure what moves through these seaports. That’s what U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been doing through the initiatives I’ve described.

Internationalizing Core Principles
But we must do more to secure what moves into—and through—our ports.

CSI, C-TPAT, the 24-Hour Rule, and automated risk targeting are part of a strategy to do this.

One of the most important things we need to do is to internationalize the core elements of these initiatives—to expand and implement these initiatives more broadly to protect the movement of goods on a global scale.

I appreciate this award and your recognition of the maritime security initiatives that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has led and implemented in partnership with other nations and in partnership with the private sector.

I thank all of you—governments and companies—who are working with CBP to secure and facilitate trade and protect global trading systems, and the world economy, from terrorist attacks.

I ask each of you, our partners—in nations around the world to work with us now—to ensure that the core elements of CSI, C-TPAT, advance information requirements, and risk targeting approach are internationalized.

It is imperative that these security principles are applied throughout the world so that all ports, in all nations are secure from the physical and economic threat of global terrorism.

Conclusion
As I’ve said, all of the initiatives I’ve described are part of a strategy to achieve what I have called the Twin Goals: securing the movement of trade, but simultaneously facilitating that movement.

The reality is: with these initiatives—the 24-Hour Rule, CSI, C-TPAT and risk managing and targeting against the terrorist risk—we can do both.

And that would be the ultimate irony for global terrorists like Bin Laden.

Not only will we have secured maritime trade against terrorists like him, but we will have succeeded in making that system more secure against pilferage and shipments of contraband.

And, importantly, we will have made that system faster, more efficient, and more predictable than it was before 9/11.

Together, we can do this!

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