During my time as Undersecretary for Enforcement at the Treasury Department, I had the pleasure of working with George Weise, who was then Commissioner of U.S. Customs. No discussion of Customs modernization would be complete without mention of his leadership in the early 1990s.

During that period, George helped to build a legacy of cooperation with the trade community that we are still drawing upon at Customs. And I believe that legacy is clearly manifested here today as well.

When I saw that Vastera had called this conference "Horizons 2000," I thought how appropriate that was. That it was important for the industries represented here today, and for those engaged in America's economic future generally, to be looking forward to the horizon and beyond.

We are actually doing that in a formal way at the Customs Service. We have invited academics and other experts to meet with senior Customs officials and others we interact with to look at the world we will face 10 or 15 to years from now. We want to begin now to plan for the problems and opportunities of the next decade or so; the same problems and opportunities that may, in fact, be arising incrementally right now, but which might pass unnoticed unless we take time to examine the emerging trends.

Harvard's Richard Cooper talked about a world that appears to be growing wealthier, even in the underdeveloped nations. Northwestern University's Arthur Gellam talked about the dramatic increases in air travel, air freight, and a big demand for new, less congested ports of entry around the world. He also talked about introduction of microscopic sensors that can be embedded in products to monitor not only their performance -- say, for example, the structural integrity of a jet engine turbine -- but also to report information that could be transmitted to Customs for clearance.

The terrorist expert Neil Livingstone talked to us about the growing internationalization of organized crime. And Joseph Coates, formerly of the National Science Foundation, is meeting with us later this afternoon to continue our examination of what the future has in store. We will be examining the implications of the explosion in trade, the disappearance of borders, and the mind-numbing advance of technology.

The future will also feature prominently in an upcoming trade symposium we'll be holding on November 30th, at our headquarters in Washington. We're calling it "Vision 20/20," to indicate both the clarity with which we intend to spell out our priorities to the trade community, and the twenty-year time horizon we wish to project. You're all invited to attend, and can register to do so on our web site, www.Customs.gov. Look for more information about the Symposium on our site, and instructions on how to sign up.

For most of our history, the Customs Service was America's principal collector of revenues; almost all of it generated from tariffs. We are still second only to the IRS as a collector of revenue for the United States, about $22 billion annually.

But like the nation itself, the Customs Service has changed vastly over the years. Where we were once exclusively concerned with making sure smugglers did not avoid paying duties on imported goods, we are now concerned with making certain that nothing crossing our borders poses a danger to the public or to the national security.

Sure, we are still responsible for collecting duties and enforcing tariff rules and regulations. But in an age where duties and tariffs are becoming incidental to the tremendous wealth being generated by more free and open trade, Customs' role as port toll collector is diminishing.

However, our overall law enforcement role keeps expanding. We seize more illegal narcotics than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined.

We conduct more money laundering investigations than anyone else. We seize goods manufactured by forced child labor, or that violate American intellectual property laws, or child pornography laws, or that pose a threat to the environment or national security.

Meanwhile, the volume and value of legitimate imports are skyrocketing -- over one trillion dollars last year, or about double what it was just five years ago. The value of trade is expected to nearly double again in another five years, surpassing two trillion dollars in the year 2006. Exports are also skyrocketing, over 684 billion dollars last year. And the Census Bureau estimates that American export shipments will grow by six to 10 percent annually.

This explosion in trade and general economic activity manifests itself in many different ways. Tens of thousands in additional tractor-trailers and railroad cars enter the United States from Mexico and Canada. Millions of additional travelers enter by air, sea and over land. About half a billion travelers legally cross the borders of the United States every year. On any given day, the Customs Service processes over 550 ships, 45,000 trucks, 2,500 planes, 340,000 cars, and 1.3 million people.

This incredible level of activity is very good for the country. It is part and parcel of America's booming economy, our low unemployment, our prosperity in general.

Now as welcome as all of this expanding trade and traffic may be, one of its demands is that we do things much faster. Some of you may be familiar with the Ohio State University study that showed that approximately 40% of U.S. manufacturing and distribution is now done on a "just-in-time basis." That is expected to double to 80% before this decade is over, and we have to prepare for that.

The robust economy is also building a much bigger haystack, an enormous haystack of perfectly legal trade and commerce in which the needles of narcotics trafficking, money laundering and terrorism try to hide. The mission of the Customs Service is to find those needles before they enter the United States to do damage to our citizens. Now more than ever, we need ways to search for those needles very quickly. The massive shift away from a warehousing to a "just in time" economy is demanding it.

The importance of finding the needles in the haystack may be self-evident. But let me remind you of one infamous example of why it's so important: he was named Ahmed Ressam. He attempted to enter the United States from Canada last December 14th carrying explosive material and timing devices capable of triggering four bombs, each one like those detonated in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center in New York.

The arrest of Ahmed Ressam undoubtedly saved countless lives. It was the result of Customs inspectors doing routine responsibilities thoroughly. In the wake of his arrest, the Customs Service is examining ways in which it can better anticipate would-be terrorist attacks against the United States by being smarter and more selective about what shipments and people we stop to examine; by getting better cooperation from other law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Meanwhile, the Customs Service is continuing to combat those in the United States who would deal with terrorists or rouge states, including the New York businessmen who tried to ship gas masks to the Japanese cult that attacked the Tokyo subway system with Sarin gas, or the member of the IRA who was sentenced to prison last week after Customs agents stopped him from shipping weapons to Ireland that he had purchased from Florida gun dealers. Less dramatically, but more commonly, we find smaller companies attempting to make a quick profit by trying to export last year's technology abroad without obtaining the required licenses.

As the haystack of trade grows bigger, we are looking for ways to streamline the system so we can quickly process legitimate importers and exporters, and thereby devote more of our limited resources on the money launderers and other willful violators of the law.

You can help us in the process by making your own, internal compliance programs as reliable and effective as possible, not only because the law requires you to "exercise reasonable care," but because, ultimately, those who demonstrate they have credible compliance systems in place are likely to experience fewer delays at the port. Those who are lax in this regard, inevitably, will come under greater scrutiny.

One innovation we are pursuing -- part of our risk management program -- is how we conduct our Compliance Assessments. We have refined our Compliance Assessment Audits to make sure we focus on the most critical areas of the importing process. We have added new risk categories and made sure the process takes into consideration the effort the importer is putting into compliance. By creating a "minimal risk" category we are rewarding those companies who reach the lowest level of risk with fewer exams and less intrusion into their business. Not only does this make additional resources available for Customs, but also it rewards businesses for making a commitment to compliance. I want to make sure that business will reap the benefits of their efforts in a way that is most meaningful to them. That is my commitment to the trade.

Between AES and our electronic reporting systems with Canada, about three-quarters of U.S. exports are being handled electronically. But that leaves a quarter of our exports that are not. The more information that is filed electronically with the most lead-time, the less likely an export will be delayed leaving the port. We have also worked with the Commerce Department to expedite the process when an export shipment is held because of licensing questions.

It once took four weeks or more to untangle the hold on an export that involved a licensing issue. But in just the last six months that has changed for the better. Now, with new arrangements we have worked out with the Commerce Department, we are doing much better at immediately turning around exports that were held up over licensing questions. Those that are delayed for further examination by Commerce are coming back to us within seven to ten days with a decision whether to release the shipment. And if Commerce does not get back within 20 days, the shipment is automatically released.

While some Commerce licenses may be done electronically, the vast majority of licensable exports are still done on paper, however. But we are working with the Departments of State and Commerce to automate that process too. The State Department's new direct verification program has just gotten underway and will be expanded next year to use electronic information to speed the process.

Our efforts at Customs to streamline trade processing overall just received a great boost with congressional appropriations for the first major piece of funding for the Automated Commercial Environment, or "ACE". We received $253 million in all: $130 million to develop ACE, and $123 million to keep the existing ACS system up and running until ACE is brought on line. We are just waiting the President's signature on this. It is critically important that we keep ACS going while we fund and construct ACE. We have experienced so-called "brown-outs" with ACS -- unacceptable downtime and outages that slow trade processing.

What will the ACE development funding buy us? It will allow us to move ahead with our "request for proposal" process, and selection of a prime contractor to build the new system. We will award that contract by February 2001. It will also enable us to begin our investment and complete development of the National Customs Automated Prototype, or "NCAP."

As encouraged as we are by the funding, it's only the first step. We need resources for the next four to five years in order to finalize what amounts to a $1 billion plus project for the Customs Service. But we are optimistic, because when the trade community and Customs speak with one voice, great things can happen for all of us.

That's why I'm equally confident about our prospects for Entry Revision as well. Together with a new automated system, entry revision forms the second strong pillar of our modernization platform. "ERP" is designed to simplify the entry process, to separate out high-volume, low-risk importers from those more prone to violations of our laws; to streamline payments through account management and periodic billing; and to be more flexible with the period granted for corrections. It's a big step in the right direction that will involve some major statutory changes. Customs and the trade must speak as one in this regard.

Clearly, our modern notion of trade facilitation must go well beyond improving the process of how we enter goods. It must encompass the full range of transactions. This is an incredibly complex business, and it requires our cooperation on many fronts. The agenda of this conference reflects that fact, and I want to commend you for tackling so many of the difficult issues so earnestly.

The demand for speed, the demand for information, the demand for faster, less encumbered movement of trade and people around the world -- the era in which we live has created enormous challenges and opportunities for us all. Our responsibility is to meet the challenges, and not squander the opportunities. If we succeed we will safeguard America, while elevating standards of living around the world.

I can't think of a better mission, or a better time for all of us, working together, to look to the horizon and reach for the stars.