It's been a while, but during my tenure as DEA Administrator, I actively participated in the IACP Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Committee and as a member of the IACP Executive Committee. At that time, the input of state, and local, and tribal agencies was a crucial part of our national efforts to enforce our Nation's drug laws and go after the cartels. Ten years later, your efforts remain crucial - but this time, for a different mission. Today, I - along with many others at DHS - need your input to fulfill the President's top priority - protecting our homeland against the terrorist threat - preventing 9/11 or anything like it from ever happening again.

The creation early this year of the Department of Homeland Security resulted in the reorganization of the federal border protection personnel into one agency which, I believe, is an important aspect of the new DHS. - On March 1 of this year, at the direction of Secretary Ridge and the guidance of Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson, we created U.S. Customs and Border Protection -- what Secretary Ridge has called "One Face at the Border", one agency for our Nation's borders.

DHS and CBP
On March 1, all immigration inspectors from the former INS, the agricultural border inspectors from the USDA, and the entire Border Patrol merged with most of U.S. Customs (all Customs inspection, trade, revenue and regulatory functions) to form the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection - "CBP" - within the Department of Homeland Security. For the first time in our country's history, all agencies of the United States with significant border responsibilities have been brought into one agency, within the new DHS. With our combined skills and resources, we will be far more effective in protecting our Nation's borders against the terrorist threat than we were when we were three or four different agencies, in three different departments of government. This merger of the border agencies is a good government reform recommended by 7 independent studies going back 30 years.

The creation of CBP also involves a divestiture from Customs - the divestiture of Customs Special Agents, the Customs criminal investigators, and the Customs Air and Marine Interdiction assets. They are now with a separate agency within DHS - ICE or the Bureau Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is primarily responsible for investigating Customs and Immigration criminal violations as well as immigration detention facilities and interior immigration enforcement. Both CPB and ICE are sister Bureaus under the Border and Transportation Security Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security.

As the frontline at our borders, all the 300 plus POEs and between the POEs, Customs and Border Protection is a big part of the Department of Homeland Security. To give you an idea of the magnitude of CBP's responsibilities, the new agency has approximately 42,000 employees. CBP personnel are nearly one forth of the Department of Homeland Security, and this is a reflection of how important the security of our borders is to the security of our Homeland, against the international terrorist threat. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 BP agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed, armed officers at the border - and is by far the largest law enforcement force in the federal government.

CBP Priority Mission, Traditional Missions
Think about it - every person, vehicle, shipment of cargo must pass through -- are subject to questioning and search by CBP officers! And as the guardian of our nation's borders, CBP's priority mission is homeland security. That means CBP's priority mission is keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering our country. That means using the total law enforcement authority -- immigration and Customs authorities to exclude persons and to conduct border searches - to detect and prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons, including, potentially, weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons - from getting across our borders to damage America and kill Americans.

(The police departments of our nation are a thin blue line. The uniformed and armed CBP inspectional officers at the POE and the BP agent between - are truly a thin blue and green line that protects our borders). So this - I'm sure you all agree - is an extraordinarily important priority mission for our country. Unfortunately, the threat we face from terrorism is a very real one, and an ongoing one that will be with us for years to come.

While the priority mission is paramount, we continue to perform our traditional missions effectively. Our traditional missions include the combined missions of customs, immigration, and agriculture inspectors, as well as the Border Patrol. That means, inter alia, interdicting and seizing illegal drugs and arresting those who smuggle them. And between the inspectors at the POEs and the BP between POEs, in FY '03, CBP seized over 2 million pounds of illegal drugs --- over 5,000 pounds of drugs/day. Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 1 million illegal aliens attempting to enter our country last fiscal year -- 3000/day! About 1,000 of those were from high risk countries. Controlling our borders is always desirable - but in this era is it imperative -- our homeland security depends on it.

CBP MERGER
CBP is the largest merger of people and functions taking place within any component agency of DHS.

What have we done to unify CBP:
1) Beginning on March 1st, we designated one - I repeat one - Port Director in charge of and responsible for all the inspection functions at each of our 300+ ports of entry -- not 3. We establish a short clear chain of command from port director to Director of Field Operations -- there are 20 - to the Assistant Commissioner for Field Operations to me. Similarly, established a short, clear chain of command for Border Patrol - from the 21 sector chiefs to the Chief of the Border Patrol to me. There was no headquarters, chain of command for Border Patrol when it was part of INS, which was abolished on March 1.

(2) The simplification of the command structures makes it easier to secure the border.

(3) We've instituted consolidated Anti-Terrorism response teams - for passenger and cargo environments secondary, and we have unified primary for all purposes. We established Joint Passenger Analysis Units to target high-risk air passengers.

The merger did more than just consolidate all the inspectors at the ports of entry - (though that alone would have been a major accomplishment!) The formation of CBP brought the Border Patrol into CBP, so that we are now able to take a holistic view of our nation's borders. This means that we are implementing a comprehensive strategy not just for the ports of entry, but for the entirety of our border.

"One Face" also means one uniform at POEs we selected a single uniform -- dark, law enforcement blue much like legacy Customs but with two touches of the immigration inspection uniform -- the jacket and black stripe. This is a very professional looking uniform for a new environment where stakes are high.

I look forward to working with local and state law enforcement especially in those areas that are near or impacted by our border.

Thank you again for having me here today, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.