From the inception you have been there; it would not have happened without TSN - without you. And I thank you for your continuing support.

This is a pivotal year for ACE and never has your support been more important than it is now.

And I want to thank this group for your support of our smart and extended border initiatives - for CSI, C-TPAT, the 24-Hour Rule and the Trade Act advance information rules, for supporting FAST and our risk management/risk targeting approach through CBP's National Targeting Center.

These are programs that have helped us achieve the twin goals of security and facilitation. They have helped us achieve substantially higher levels of security in the post 9-11 era, yet to do so without stifling the flow of legitimate trade. Indeed, these initiatives hold the promise of making the movement of goods more efficient than it was before 9-11. Anyone who has seen FAST in action at Port Huron knows this can be done!

ACE will play a big role in fulfilling that promise - through vastly improved selectivity and risk management based upon strategic intelligence about the terrorist threat and anomaly analysis.

We are the best in the world at risk managing for the terrorist threat. And we are getting even better. We are engaging Customs Administrations throughout the world. Next month, I have invited Customs authorities from 20 nations, including all CSI countries to a strategic antiterrorism targeting conference to be held at our National Targeting Center not far from here.

WCO
I just returned from Europe - where I can report that we were successful in getting the WCO - all 161 countries - to support a resolution that will lead to internationalizing C-TPAT. To internationalize C-TPAT partnerships that promote the security and facilitation of global trade - and internationalizing Customs-to-Customs cooperation-to adopt the same advance data elements, to use a common risk management approach and to screen-based upon minimum security standards-outbound as well as inbound cargo. In other words, to internationalize the principles of the Container Security Initiative.

That resolution was unanimously adopted last Saturday and it established for the first time a small High Level Strategic Group of committed heads of Customs agencies to draft the WCO initiative or framework and to get it approved before the end of this year by the WCO Policy Commission.

On a separate track we are working these same issues with the European Union and Member States to develop a common and consistent approach to security and facilitation of the integrated global supply chain.

We will involve the trade along the way in this process. I will see to that.

But I want you to know that the United States-U.S. Customs and Border Protection-is exercising leadership as we should given our track record as the innovators on how to achieve security and facilitation.

As U.S. Customs and Border Protection has demonstrated these dual objectives are not and don't have to be, mutually exclusive.

ACE
Let me say that ACE remains a top priority of CBP and ACE is an integral part of our future. We must work together to achieve the promise of ACE. Let me discuss what those promises are.

Single Window
One of those promises is the promise of a single window into government for all trade data respecting imports or exports for all government agencies. Through ACE, the government and trade will be connected through a centralized, online access point. No agency of the U.S. Government should be allowed to collect international trade data, except through ACE, and its ITDS link.

The advantages and efficiencies of the trade community of a single portal or window are obvious. But there are tremendous advantages to assuring the sharing of information between government agencies so important in the post 9-11 world.

ACE will revolutionize the way trade does business with Customs!

It is already doing this. ACE is coming into being. We are on the cusp of a revolution in Customs processing. We are in the testing phase of release #3. And who cannot be excited about this.

From time immemorial. Well, let me not exaggerate. In the case of U.S. Customs since July, 1789-for 215 years, importers paid duties on their goods one entry at a time.

This month CBP and 40 importers began testing release 3 of ACE which allows importers, for the first time, to receive a statement for all entries on a monthly basis, and to pay duties and fees monthly. At last, 215 years after the first Customs entry, account based processing has arrived.

ACE will benefit the trade community by reducing the costs and processing burdens. And once fully operational ACE, will greatly assist CBP in the advance electronic collection of information for targeting high-risk shipments to better address the terrorist threats. And in doing so, it will help us expedite the vast majority of low-risk trade.

One Agency for the Border
As I said, there is and should be one agency to act as a single portal for international trade data, and that's Customs and Border Protection.

And there is, as a result of the Department of Homeland Security, one agency for the border-to manage, control, and secure, and facilitate at our nation's borders and ports of entry for all purposes.

What this means, or should mean, is that Customs and Border Protection functions on behalf of all U.S. agencies that regulate goods that arrive at our borders. We don't need all those agencies physically there.

Whether that's the FDA or USDA or DEA or the Consumer Products Safety Commission, it is Customs and Border Protection that enforces their regulations. Let us not go back. Let us not proliferate agencies with inspectors and personnel at the borders. Let us complete the consolidation into one agency to manage the border. One agency which will share risk management principles-and selectivity with the regulatory agencies whose regulations we enforce.

But one agency must be there and decide and manage. "One Face at the Border" as Secretary Ridge has said, means one agency for the border. That is one of the big ideas of the Department of Homeland Security. And the trade has an interest in supporting us to achieve this goal. A goal on which we have already made good progress.

A Word About Timeline
I had wanted to complete ACE in 5 years. Given the current funding levels and the added homeland security and risk management functionality, this does not appear possible. Indeed, without additional funding, we are currently on a 10-year track.

Conclusion
TSN and Customs have a shared responsibility-to the security of our country and to the security of the global economy. This has been a great partnership. And I look forward to continuing this partnership with the TSN as we implement ACE-as we lead the way.