It's an idea that's driven the public imagination for years, fueling the ruse Orson Wells perpetrated on the country during a broadcast of War of the Worlds and providing the plot for the film Independence Day a half-century later-an alien threat from outer space suddenly unites humanity, pulling nations engaged in centuries of warfare into a global alliance that proves what we have in common is always greater than what divides us.

Although an alien threat remains the stuff of fiction, we have before us now a single threat that is ferocious and widespread enough to engage the attention of the entire world and to detach nations and institutions from separate and often competing agendas.

September 11, 2001, opened the world's eyes to that threat, turning lukewarm allies into battle-ready partners, and erasing, within the federal government, institutional distinctions that the collapse of the World Trade Center had proved meaningless in any practical sense.

The whole-hearted and hands-on response of emergency personnel in that crisis made heroes out of men and women, firefighters, police officers, paramedical teams and other city personnel. When the dust settled in the hours and days following 9/11, "turf" that had existed between these groups and between federal government agencies responsible for securing our nation had disappeared, and in its place was a new determination to do whatever it takes to eliminate a common, global threat.

The consolidation of Customs, the Border Patrol, and the inspectional functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Agriculture and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) into a new parent organization called the Customs and Border Protection Bureau (CBP) is an extraordinary testament to the commitment of our country and of these organizations to winning the war against terrorism.

Born in very different circumstances, trained to pursue diverse missions, and bound to strong and separate traditions, these four organizations are now working aggressively to share their experience and expertise with one another and to build a new history of cooperation and accomplishment. CBP represents the unification of every federal agency tasked with border enforcement, protection, and inspection, as well as the resolve of 30,000 new employees to present "one face" at the border in one, shoulder-to-shoulder fight against terrorism.

No easy task
The challenge facing the new bureau is huge: our country shares a 5,525-mile border with Canada and a 1,989-mile border with Mexico, with a combined total of more than 300 international land-based ports of entry. Intertwined with our borders is a maritime system that includes 95,000 miles of coastline and navigable waterways and a global transportation network-with more than 300 seaports, 429 commercial airports, and several hundred thousand miles of highways and railroads-that connects to virtually every community in America.

It is estimated that 730 million people travel on commercial aircraft each year and that there are now more than 700 million pieces of baggage screened for explosives each year. Factor in 11.2 million trucks and 2.2 million rail cars that cross into the United States each year, along with 7,500 foreign flagships that make 51,000 calls in U.S. ports annually, and you've just begun to understand what lies ahead for CBP.

Right now, 17,000 inspectors and canine enforcement officers from the APHIS Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) program, INS inspection services, and the Customs Service are trading places on the front lines, tutoring one another in trade secrets and skills earned the hard way, through thousands of hours of time on the job. They are sharing information and working hand-in-hand to connect information systems and open up the channels of communication. And they are building trust, strengthening the sense of partnership that 9/11 imposed on them and their once-separate organizations. "It's the intent of the new Homeland Security Department," says one CBP official, "to have us all inter-trained and working as one unit."

Ten thousand agents from the U.S. Border Patrol are also onboard, soon to be joined by 600 new hires. These men and women are bringing what they've learned from initiatives like Operation Gatekeeper, an approach that emphasizes deterrence, to the strategy sessions chaired by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They're also waiting to tailor their specific skills to a campaign that's expanded from a primary mission-preventing the illegal trafficking of people and contraband-to a complex, international effort. The agency, created more than 77 years ago, brings an astonishing record of success to CBP: since 1994, the Border Patrol has made more than 11.3 million apprehensions nationwide, more than the current populations of Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas, combined.

Playing to win
Commissioner Robert C. Bonner says he believes the infusion of new perspectives and expertise will make CBP exactly the kind of border agency this nation needs in a post-9/11 environment. The troops seem to agree; they may still be wearing different uniforms and carrying different credentials, but from all appearances, the men and women of CBP are ready and eager to show the world what can happen when America comes together. Integrating border functions is a necessary prerequisite to realizing the new bureau's goal: the construction of a global, multi-layered security system, one that can accommodate private sector initiatives within a larger federal framework and interface seamlessly with security efforts developed overseas by our allies and trading partners.

CBP's priority mission is keeping terrorists and terrorists weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, from entering the United States, and CBP will do this to the maximum extent possible without stifling the flow of legitimate trade and travel.

CBP has already suited up for this extraordinarily important mission. A new corps of inspectors drawn from four component organizations-Customs, U.S. Border Patrol, INS, and APHIS-now patrols our ports, on the lookout for terrorists and terrorist weapons. CBP is making sure that every primary-line inspector at every port is trained and equipped with a radiation detector. Agricultural inspectors guard the nation against the importation of disease-infested agents that could imperil public health or sabotage American agriculture, destroying the world's richest economy in the process. Still other CBP officers focus on chemical threats, on making sure that VX, or ricin, or any other kind of death-in-a-vial doesn't make it past them and into America's communities.

Even the ranks of the Canine Enforcement Program have diversified: CBP is now home, not just to Labs and German shepherds, the kinds of larger dogs that Customs and INS liked to employ, but also to dozens of smaller breeds, including the small, feisty beagles that APHIS depends on to ferret out agricultural contaminants. It could make for a comic picture, this incongruous lineup of big and little hounds, each nose pointed toward some hidden threat, but CBP isn't laughing. And that's because we understand, as do the architects of the new Department of Homeland Security, just how important it is right now to have every dog in this fight.

Bringing dollars to the fight
In recent remarks to the National Association of Counties, Secretary Ridge emphasized the importance of protecting both the security of our borders and the integrity of our immigration laws.

"We're going to begin supporting the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by an additional $36 million for border infrastructure upgrades," said Secretary Ridge. "And we see down the road, in the future, a combination of not only additional people, but more technology as we seal our borders and at the same time facilitate the flow of legitimate people and goods."

Secretary Ridge focuses on new technology's role in border security, creating a "smarter" border system with $10 million he says is earmarked for investigating thousands of alien fugitives who refuse to leave the country, and another $380 million for the continued development of a new, sophisticated entry/exit visa system.

Add an additional $400 million to the campaign to secure U.S. ports and borders-for more technology and additional personnel-and what the new DHS Secretary calls a "huge undertaking" assumes its proper fiscal proportions, an amount of money that experts predict will continue to increase as our anti-terrorism efforts grow.

More financial resources for technology are on the way as well: more than $300 million this year for Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and the International Trade Data System, and $45 million for non-intrusive inspection systems such as personal radiation detectors, isotope identifiers, handheld acoustical inspection systems, and mobile machines for inspection of rail containers.

Cargo is key
As important as technology and money are, creating "smart borders" depends as well on the willingness of our partners overseas and in the private sector to work hand-in-hand with CBP to prevent another terrorist attack. Both Secretary Ridge and Commissioner Bonner point to the emergence of international agreements to stop terrorism, citing our efforts with Canada and Mexico to create 21st century borders to keep terrorists out while letting legitimate goods and people through. The NEXUS program, already in operation at major crossings on the northern border, has become a model for reducing border delays when travelers are recognized by both sides as non-terrorists. C-TPAT works in a similar way to reduce border delays for cargo, an achievement that is much appreciated in border towns and cities whose economies depend on the successful processing of trade.

So far, 2,251 companies have joined C-TPAT, a program that Secretary Ridge believes provides incentives for self-policing at every step of the supply chain. Security guidelines for those who want expedited processing under C-TPAT have been developed jointly by CBP and the trade community, and CBP will be monitoring and measuring compliance with those guidelines.

The future
If you go to Dulles International Airport or LAX today, or to the border crossing at Otay Mesa or to the CBP's offices on the Ambassador Bridge, which links the United States to Canada, the men and women who work for CBP may tell you that things don't feel much different from the way they felt before March 1. But they will also tell you that, in the days and months ahead, they expect much to change, not just administratively or logistically, but in other, more important ways as well.

"Customs and the Border Patrol have always cooperated in a number of ways," says Border Patrol Agent Mario now stationed at headquarters. "But even when we worked together to make arrests and on important investigations, we always knew we were separate organizations. That isn't true anymore. And the people out in the field are picking up on that, that we're all one team, bigger, more powerful and more committed to stopping the enemy we know is out there waiting. This time, we're going to be ready."