For players in the private sector, it was a chance to make technology the lever they needed to move into a new world, but for Customs, accustomed to the slow march of bureaucracy, automation was not a process to be regarded lightly. Businesses who used computers internally, and to communicate with one another, were still required to fill out reams of paperwork for Custom. And after they'd done the paperwork, brokers and importers were required by law to store it for a specified period of time in special warehouses they rented just for that purpose.

It wasn't until the last decade of the 20th century, that Customs achieved the consensus needed to push the transition from paper to technology through Congress. Negotiations between the potential "losers" and "winners" that technology stood to create were painstakingly slow. But victory was inevitable. In 1993, Congress passed an act to modernize and simplify the administration of the customs laws-popularly known as the Customs Modernization Act.

The Mod Act changed Customs forever, and became a benchmark for customs administrations across the world. The Customs Modernization Act was described by one of its primary architects as "basic surgery." Many consider it the most sweeping regulatory reform legislation since the U.S. Customs Service was organized in 1789.

As part of the CSI Initiative, Customs inspectors review manifest information to determine which containers are best suited for a search.

Cyber Crime
The U.S. Customs Service has always been the front line of defense against the illegal trafficking and distribution of child pornography into and throughout the United States. Before 1977, Customs seized child pornography entering the United States under obscenity statutes. In 1984, Congress enacted the Child Protection Act of 1984, which gave Customs the authority to investigate any cases that involve the receipt, transmission, manufacture, or possession of child pornography shipped in foreign commerce. In 1988, Congress enacted a law prohibiting the use of computers to transmit, manufacture, or possess child pornography that has been shipped in foreign commerce. That law opened the door to Customs computer investigations, the first of which was launched in 1989 against child pornography bulletin boards in Denmark. That was the first Federal law enforcement investigation into the illegal transmission of child pornography via computer.

Customs investigations into computer child pornography expanded in the early 1990s to include child pornography transmitted via the Internet, as pedophiles discovered the ease with which they could traffic in child pornography on the information superhighway. The U.S. Customs Service International Child Pornography Investigation and Coordination Center (ICPICC) was created in April, 1996 to expand and coordinate Customs Internet child pornography investigations, not only in Customs but throughout the Federal, state, local and international law enforcement communities.

With Internet use growing at a breakneck pace, Customs soon realized that it provided great opportunity for trafficking in all manner of illegal items-not just child pornography. Having been in the forefront of electronic pornography investigations, it was Customs that pioneered the methods and strategies to uncover other types of electronic corruption. In August, 1997, with the creation of the Customs Cyber Smuggling Center (C3), the U.S. Customs Service formally expanded its Internet investigations to include all forms of criminal activity under Customs jurisdiction that takes place over the Internet. The Center brought together all U.S. Customs assets dedicated to the investigation of international criminal activity conducted on, or facilitated by, the Internet.

Today, Customs Cyber Smuggling Center's areas of responsibility, include, in addition to child pornography trafficking, international money laundering, international drug trafficking, intellectual property rights violations (including music and software), international economic espionage, trafficking in environmental contaminants, illegal arms trafficking, and traffic in weapons of mass destruction.

An Ominous Discovery
On December 14, 1999, U.S. Customs inspectors at Port Angeles, Washington pulled over for secondary inspection a motorist on the ferry from Canada. Something just didn't seem right to the inspector. As usual, drugs were suspected. As the world now knows, the inspectors were right on target, except for one significant twist. Ahmed Ressam-in al Qaeda's first shot across the bow on American soil-was entering the country in a car loaded with explosives. His intent was to blow up the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the new millennium. Only the alert Customs officers on duty stood between Ressam and that devastating attack.

The aftermath of terrorist attacks on September 11.

Then Everything Changed
On the morning of September 11, when the top of the North Tower smashed through the center of 6 WTC, the impact demolished more than Customs field offices. At that moment, Customs knew that many of its assumptions about the agency's primary mission, its challenges, and its future had been dramatically altered as well.

The September 11 attack on New York and Washington turned America upside down. It made us realize our vulnerabilities, but it also made us know our strengths. And Customs stood proud. "For the first time in history, U.S. airspace was empty, closed down. Federal buildings in D.C. were closed. The streets were empty, restaurants were vacant, plays on Broadway were cancelled. No one knew if there would be another attack or where that attack might happen. But our inspectors didn't stop or close shop. They were doing their jobs, walking up to every car, every conveyance, every person, and looking them straight in the eye. Their job was never more dangerous than it was after 9/11, but they didn't blink." John Heinrich, former Deputy Commissioner for OFO

Customs Rises to the Challenge-Again
Days after the attack, newly sworn-in Commissioner Robert C. Bonner began talking about the need to push the border outward to better protect against the international terrorist threat, including the possible concealment of weapons of mass destruction on ocean-going vessels, saying "We can no longer afford to think of the border merely as a physical line separating one nation from another."

The ultimate goals of pushing the border outward are to allow U.S. Customs more time to react to potential threats, stop threats before they reach us, and expedite the flow of commerce across our borders.

Initiatives include:
Smart Border Declaration -- signed between the U.S. and Canada in December 2002. This includes many Customs-related measures to improve security and expedite trade along the northern border. As part of the agreement, U.S. Customs officers will be posted at the Canadian ports of Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver to pre-screen goods headed for the United States.

Container Security Initiative -- protects trade that is moved by oceangoing sea containers from being used by terrorists. Agreements with all major and mid-sized ports around the world to adopt new security protocols and to allow the posting of U.S. Customs inspectors world wide will not only help ensure deadly cargo does not reach America's shores, it will also do much to stop crime and fraud in world trade.

Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT) -- modeled on earlier strategies encouraging shippers to be proactive in preventing vessels from being used for smuggling and other offenses, C-TPAT has Customs, major importers, and other members of the trade community working in partnership to develop security measures to protect every aspect of the supply chain, from the loading dock overseas to the arrival port in the U.S.

Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) -- before September 11, 2001, commercial airlines participating in APIS voluntarily collected passenger and crew information and transmitted it to Customs while flights were en route to the U.S. APIS was made mandatory by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-71). With the information provided by APIS, such as travelers flight itineraries, Customs is better able to identify which passengers might present the most risk for attempted smuggling.

Time Line

1989
- Customs Collections total $16.3 Billion

1989
- Berlin Wall falls

1990
- Soviet Union collapses; Cold War ends

1993
- North America Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA)/Customs Modernization Act signed into law

1996
- Creation of International Child Pornography Investigation and Coordination Center (ICIPICC)

1996
- Customs launches a web site

1996
- First drug smuggling tunnel discovered in Douglas, Arizona

1997
- Customs Cyber Smuggling Center (C3) created

1999
- Aviation and Marine Programs merged, creating the Air and Marine Interdiction Division (AMID)

2000
- Customs clears Y2K hurdle with no significant problems

2001
- Al Queda terrorist attacks the World Trade Center on September 11

2001
- Operation Shield America initiated

2001
- Operation Green Quest begins

2002
- CSI and C-TPAT initiated

2002
- Smart Border Declaration signed between U.S. and Canada

2002
- Free and Secure Trade (FAST) agreement with Canada announced

2003
- 24-Hour Rule goes into effect

2003
- U.S. Customs Service joins Department of Homeland Security