As America's war on drugs has escalated over the years, the Office of International Affairs has invested more money, equipment, manpower, and training to fight this wily enemy by strengthening customs administrations around the world. For the United States, however, one region in particular, the Caribbean Basin, is the major hot spot for illegal drugs and other contraband that enter the United States.

Drug smugglers use its island nations to stash merchandise that is off-loaded from boats and planes and destined for the United States. The Caribbean region is also home to many money-laundering operations.

But while reducing drug trafficking and money laundering is a worthy mission, it is still only one responsibility among several with which customs administrations are entrusted. And the more that customs administrations can share information and intelligence, participate in training programs, upgrade and modernize procedures and operations - for example, going from manual processing and paper records to computerization - the more effectively they can fulfill their mandates.

For more than 25 years, U.S. Customs has participated in the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCLEC), an organization of 35 customs administrations from the Caribbean; Central, South, and North America; and western Europe. Member nations share the goals of improving communications, sharing information and intelligence, training customs officers, modernizing various systems and procedures, and promoting cooperation among member customs services and other law enforcement agencies, all with the goal of collecting and protecting revenue, increasing drug seizures, interrupting money launderers, assisting and enhancing legitimate trade, and fostering international travel through improved customs procedures - a tall order!

As almost all organizations of such cumbersome size do, the CCLEC works primarily through committees and working groups. U.S. Customs serves on the Council's executive committee, which meets regularly throughout the year, and on the following working groups:

• The RCS2000, which is a regional clearance system to allow pleasure boats sailing in the Caribbean to benefit from standardized customs clearance procedures among different customs administrations in that area and to provide intelligence gleaned from such clearances to the CCLEC, if necessary.
• The Integrity Work Group, which helps member nations improve their integrity programs, much as U.S. Customs has done under Commissioner Kelly's tenure.
• The Customs Intelligence Unit Work Group, which helps member nations develop their own intelligence units. With its considerable experience and expertise in this and the preceding area, U.S. Customs will provide trainers for integrity and intelligence workshops.

It's evident that customs administrations in this part of the world aren't as sophisticated as U.S. Customs, especially in areas like training and equipment - areas that would deter some of the current criminal activity. But if the U.S. Customs Service can help these island nations upgrade their customs operations, some of these enforcement concerns could be removed before they even reach our borders.