The events of the past twelve months have only strengthened that belief.

As Commissioner, I look forward to this day more than any other. That's because there are so many great stories to tell at Customs. And at this awards ceremony, we get to tell the very best of them every year.

Many of you here today were gathered in this auditorium last December, when we honored the four inspectors from Port Angeles, Washington who stopped a terrorist from crossing our northern border in a car packed with powerful bomb-making materials. Perhaps no other single event in our proud history better defined what vigilance means to the Customs service, and what our vital mission is all about.

And while we presented four medals here that day, the truth is we could have presented thousands more in the days and weeks that followed to Customs employees on our frontlines who worked to protect a troubled Nation and restore its holiday peace.

America learned a lot in the aftermath of Ahmed Ressam about the role of Customs in securing its borders. But the stories of the past year tell a whole lot more. They speak not just to our presence on our nation's frontline, but to another record level of trade processed by the Customs service; to great advances in our program of commercial modernization; to unprecedented drug seizures; to our achievements in combating money laundering; in fighting internet child pornography; in enforcing laws against the importation of goods made by forced child labor; in returning stolen antiquities to their rightful governments; in penalizing those who violate international trade agreements; even the work of Customs laboratories in enforcing the oil embargo against Iraq and Iran.

Our stories depict an agency confronting major challenges on the threshold of a new millennium. They tell of our employees stepping up to meet those challenges. And they testify to our success.

Perhaps at no other time in its more than 200-year history has the Nation's oldest law enforcement agency faced the extraordinary demands it does today. A spiraling volume of goods at our borders has put immense pressure on our limited resources. This year, Customs processed 23 and-a-half million trade entries - a 150% increase in just nine years - and another peak in a workload that shows no signs of abating.

All of this activity of course is good for America. It is part and parcel of our booming economy. But clearly it presents some unique challenges for the Customs Service. Our employees have to process all of that trade efficiently, maintaining the smooth flow of commerce across our borders.

You have done it. And you have done it well. Your efforts have demonstrated time and time again that for Customs, facilitation and enforcement are not a contradiction in terms. The very same systems that promote the Nation’s prosperity are bound tightly to our capacity to protect consumers and the integrity of the global marketplace.

That's why our new system of automation is so critical. Thanks to the U.S. Congress, which just appropriated funding for the project, Customs is poised to put its first down payment on the Automated Commercial Environment, or ACE. ACE will revolutionize the way we process goods and target risk. It will soon start to become reality, in large part due to the past year's winning Customs modernization efforts, and a successful campaign to bring the full support of the trade community behind our cause.

We are grateful to the members of Congress and the trade community for all they have done for Customs, and we intend to repay their confidence with the very best automated system this Nation could ask for.

Against great odds, Customs employees continue to demonstrate their skill and ingenuity in battling narcotics traffickers, seizing one and a half million pounds of illegal drugs this year. Operations Journey, Riversweep, and Paris Express are just a few examples of Customs taking on the latest the cartels and smuggling groups have to offer, and winning big.

Thanks to the work of our Agents, Inspectors and a special, intra-agency task force, Customs has assumed a leading role in tracking and disrupting the flow of Ecstasy, the most insidious new drug threat to our society in decades. Our seizures of Ecstasy this fiscal year alone totaled over 9 million tablets, doubling the amount seized in 1999.

Customs has also set the pace among federal law enforcement agencies in tracking Internet crime with the help of our new CyberSmuggling Center. We’ve led the way in combating Internet child pornography, the illegal sale of on-line drugs, and violations of intellectual property rights.

And no reflection on the past year would be complete without highlighting Customs' response to the difficult issue of personal search.

Confronted by allegations of racial bias in our searches of air passengers, we implemented many changes to Customs' search policies to guard against even the perception of bias, while redoubling our efforts to provide the best in service to America’s travelling public.

Customs employees responded by dramatically improving our search efficiency, finding even more drugs, while delaying far fewer law-abiding travelers with searches. At the same time, you maintained a spectacular 80% approval rate throughout the year among air passengers responding to our comment card program.

These achievements did not go unnoticed by the Personal Search Review Commission, the independent body we asked to review our passenger operations. In its final report, the Commission recognized our changes, and acknowledged the great challenges our people face in carrying out our interdiction mission. But they also stated more could be done to improve our search practices.

While our reforms have yielded promising results, we are by no means declaring victory. We know it will take constant attention. We've formed a new committee to oversee the Commission's additional recommendations, and we'll work hard to ensure that the changes already in place take firm hold. If the past year is any indication, Customs employees will leave no doubt whatsoever in anyone's mind about our commitment to protect the rights of travelers while defending America from the scourge of illegal drugs.

I am extremely proud of the way this agency has responded to the call for change - not just in the crucial area of personal search, but in so many others. The fact is, the powerful forces shaping today's global marketplace will have a profound impact on Customs' operations in the years to come. From exploding levels of commerce, to dramatic advancements in technology, to revolutionary changes in transportation and distribution, our future will depend on how well we adapt to the trends that are redefining our world.

Thanks in great part to the employees we honor today, we will not just adapt to those trends; we will set the standards by which others respond to them. Our award winners symbolize the very best of an agency that clearly stands at the forefront of change in government today, whether by their management skills, their exceptional acts of service, their quiet efforts to enhance workplace fairness and provide support to Customs families, their dedication to community, or their demonstrated leadership, valor, and integrity.

Each honoree will be presented with a medal commemorating his or her achievements on stage today, and following our ceremony, each will also receive the same award you saw displayed in our opening video and in the front of your programs.

I congratulate all our winners today, and I thank every Customs employee for your contributions and commitment to our success.

Thank you for all you do.