see also: in March 2007 News Releases:   SBInet Completes Test of First Mobile Sensor Tower   Nogales Border Patrol Seizes 6 Tons of Marijuana from Garbage Truck   El Paso CBP Officers Make Largest Drug Bust In 2 Years   CBP Seizes $709,291 in Undeclared Currency at Laredo Port of Entry   Border Patrol Seizes $13 Million in Cocaine Near Hidalgo, Texas   El Paso CBP Offers Tips For Quick, Safe Easter Holiday Border Crossings   Border Patrol Assists Man Bitten by Snake ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Customs and government officials of the United States and Israel today signed a declaration of principles to help prevent smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive material.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Israel’s Customs Directorate cosigned the declaration that will bring CBP’s Container Security Initiative to the ports of Haifa and Ashdod in Israel. CSI has 50 operational ports throughout the world, representing 32 international governments. These ports are the origin of more than 80 percent of the cargo shipped to the United States.

“Securing global trade is a major priority for CBP, so I am pleased to be partnering with Israel to expand the Container Security Initiative,” said CBP Commissioner W. Ralph Basham. “We are committed to using high-tech equipment and smarter, more secure containers to safeguard the supply chain, and realize that cooperation from our friends around the globe is our most potent weapon.”

Launched weeks after the terrorist attacks of 2001, CBP’s Container Security Initiative is a cooperative effort with host country governments to identify and screen high-risk shipments before they leave participating ports.

Representing CBP at the signing will be Assistant Commissioner Jayson Ahern. Signing for Israel will be Mr. Ami Segal, Director General of the Israeli Customs Directorate. Doron Arbely, Israel’s Tax Authority’s Senior Deputy Director General of Investigations, Intelligence and Drugs also will attend, as will Robert Stiriti, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Attaché in Rome.

Following the signing of this declaration, the two nations will work to fully certified the two ports during the next six months. CBP also has signed a declaration with Panama and hopes to certify CSI operations at the ports of Colon, Manzanillo and Balboa this fiscal year.

The initiative seeks to:

• Identify high-risk containers;
• Pre-screen and evaluate containers before they are shipped;
• Use advanced technologies to prescreen high-risk containers; and
• Utilize tamper-proof containers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.