The challenge posed by global terrorism, especially in relation to the secure movement of products and goods, has consumed our actions since the attacks. During this time, our agency developed a number of trade programs to address our greatest border security challenge—how to secure international trade without choking off the flow of legitimate trade, that is, without shutting down our economy. CBP has turned ever more attention to the seeming conundrum of how to foster and facilitate the growth of international trade, as we did before 9/11, but adding the security of goods and the containers in which they are shipped, needed in this age of global terrorism. The initiatives CBP developed to tackle this challenge are becoming the international gold standard for assuring cargo security throughout the world’s supply chain.

Thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we have proved that facilitating trade while strengthening cargo security is doable—is not the impossible feat some thought it to be three years ago. So, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge some of the key accomplishments regarding the security and facilitation of trade that you, the men and women of CBP, have achieved during the past year.

Due to your efforts, our agency has accomplished an extraordinary range and number of achievements to strengthen and augment border security as the single border management and security agency, within the Department of Homeland Security. CBP’s initiatives leverage the most advanced concepts and technologies in data collection and analysis, risk management, and collaborative ventures with the trade and foreign governments. It has included leadership in developing tamper-proof and tamper-evident containers. Overall, our initiatives have resulted in a more efficient and more secure supply chain regarding goods moving to the United States.

The Container Security Initiative (CSI), the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), and the 24-Hour Rule are three of our best-known programs for enhancing the security of cargo, containers, and supply chains. We now have CSI agreements with 21 countries, and CSI is now operational in 35 foreign ports in Europe, Asia, and Africa. And C-TPAT has become the largest government/private partnership to arise from 9/11, with more than 7,000 private-sector participants. The success of these programs is due in large part to your tireless efforts to secure trade against terrorists and terrorist weapons.

We begin the new year with our CBP Trade Symposium held January 12-14, 2005, to assess our progress and to discuss the challenge that lies ahead. The symposium’s topic, Security and Facilitation of Trade: The Way Forward, focused on our agency’s strategies to secure and facilitate the movement of legitimate trade and traffic with greater efficiency while constantly improving national and international security measures against global terrorism.

The year ahead will present new challenges and opportunities for CBP. No other government agency has a more important mission than ours, and I look forward to an even more productive year working with you, the men and women of CBP—truly a world-class, professional law enforcement organization to secure our borders and protect our nation.