It is impossible in the 21st century to separate terrorism from
its economic consequences. Indeed, by targeting the symbols of
international commercial achievement the twin towers of the
World Trade Center the terrorists made clear that they wanted
to destroy our livelihoods as well as our lives. They want to kill innocent
people and wreak havoc on our economies. It was not just
Americans that died in those horrific attacks, and it was not just
the United States economy that suffered as a result.
At a time when Al Qaeda is attempting to drive a wedge in the
Transatlantic relationship, there is nothing more important than
to make clear that all nations, and especially Europe and America, stand together in
the fight against international terrorism.
That is why it is impossible to overestimate
the importance of the agreement
between the European Union and
the United States regarding container security
and more broadly improving the
security of global trade that was signed
in Washington in April, marking a milestone
in the Transatlantic partnership
against terrorism.
The agreement will not only vastly
improve the security of trade between
the European Union and the United
States, which is the lifeblood of our own
and the global economies, it will also improve
our overall security. It reflects
recognition by the United States and Europe
that they must work together to improve
the security of cargo shipments or
cargo containers that move to and
through our seaports.
Protecting the flow of trade between
the world's two largest trading blocs is
more important than ever. For while we
must take action to incapacitate terrorist
organizations and deal with those who
sponsor and support them and while
we must dampen the hatred that fuels
radical Islamic terrorism, we must all
protect and defend our people, our trading
systems, and our economies.
The Container Security Initiative
(CSI) is a centerpiece of the U.S. effort to
secure the global trading system. Its origins
can be traced to two lessons we
learned in the days following the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks as we
watched movement across our borders,
the airline industry, and international
trade grind to a virtual halt. The first
lesson was that we must identify threats
as early as possible, before they pose a
risk to our security or to global trade;
the second was that we must have a security
system in place that allows commerce
to continue to move reliably
and safely in the event of future terrorist
attacks.
CSI is as elegantly simple and revolutionary
as the idea of the standardized
cargo container itself. It consists of four
core elements:
First, through the use of advance information,
intelligence and risk-targeting
principles, CSI teams work with their
counterparts in other countries to identify
containers that pose a potential risk
of terrorism. These containers include
those that might conceal terrorist weapons,
or even terrorists themselves.
The advance information comes
from the so-called 24-hour rule, which
requires maritime carriers to provide the
U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) with detailed descriptions
of the contents of seaborne containers
bound for the United States 24 hours before
loading. CBP officers analyze this
information to identify containers that
pose a potential terrorist threat.
Second, CSI ensures that these high risk
containers are pre-screened for security
purposes before being issued with
bills of lading and loaded onto oceangoing
container ships.
Third, pre-screening uses non-intrusive
inspection technology, including
large-scale X-ray type imaging machines
and radiation detection devices. The inspections
are conducted quickly, without
impeding the flow of legitimate cargo.
Indeed, one of the objectives of CSI is to
take advantage of the fact that containers
can be examined before loading without
delaying the shipping cycle.
Fourth, sealing devices are used to
indicate that containers previously examined
at CSI ports have not been tampered
with en route.
We launched CSI in January, 2002.
As a result of extraordinary international
cooperation, including support from the
G-8 as well as from the World Customs
Organization. By negotiating with our
partners in foreign governments and
business, we have made CSI a reality, and
a benefit to the United States and its
trading partners in just two years. The
system is fully reciprocal.We already have
Canadian and Japanese inspectors working
in the United States, and we would
welcome inspectors from Europe as well.
Indeed, a number of European
countries have played an important role
in establishing the system. The Netherlands,
Belgium, and France were the first
countries to agree to become partners in
CSI, and if it had not been for their
strong and early support, the initiative
would not be as successful as it is today.
Our initial goal was to implement
CSI at 20 of the world's largest seaports
those that ship the largest volumes of
containerized cargo directly to the
United States. Today, 19 of those 20
ports have agreed to participate in CSI,
and the system is operational at 18 international
seaports. Half of these operational
ports are in Europe, and we would
like to extend the system to additional
ports in Europe, perhaps ten more by the
end of this year.We are very pleased the
European Union has pledged to support
the expansion of CSI throughout Europe.
Indeed, this is one of the main
goals of the recently signed agreement.
The agreement complements separate
CSI agreements with EU member
states and places CSI on a secure and stable
footing in Europe for the months
and years to come. It paves the way
for expanding CSI throughout Europe
as quickly as possible, and improving
the operations and effectiveness of the
system.
Through working groups comprised
of U.S., European Commission, and
member state customs officials, we will
push the expansion of CSI, exchange
best practices and lessons learned to improve
the system and develop and enhance
similar European programs. In
short, we will work together to ensure
that the United States and Europe have
systems to identify and inspect high-risk
cargo that reflect all our combined expertise
on collecting and analyzing information
and inspecting shipments for
security purposes.
Another important initiative, which
will also be enhanced and refined in cooperation
with the Commission and the
EU member states, is the Customs-Trade
Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT),
a voluntary partnership with the
private sector to improve the security of
international supply chains from beginning
to end. Through C-TPAT, participants
develop and maintain secure
supply chains from the manufacturer's
loading dock to the border or arrival
port. CBP, in return, offers C-TPAT
shipments expedited processing and passage
across the border through a "green"
or fast lane.
In order to join C-TPAT, a company
must conduct a self-assessment of its
current supply chain security procedures
using C-TPAT security guidelines developed
in partnership with logistics and
security experts from the trade. A participant
must also commit to increasing its
supply chain security by addressing any
weaknesses that exist. Perhaps most importantly,
participants must make a
commitment to work with their business
partners and vendors throughout their
supply chains to ensure that those businesses
also increase their supply
chain security. In this way, C-TPAT is
able to increase security of shipments
from the foreign loading dock to the
port of arrival.
C-TPAT is comprised of importers,
carriers, brokers, freight forwarders, consolidators,
manufacturers and exporters
indeed all links in the supply chain.
Our goal is to extend C-TPAT participation to the entire international supply
chain.
Our work with the European Commission
and the EU member states is
showing great promise in this field.
There are programs under development
or in place in Europe, such as Sweden's
innovative StairSec program, that mirror
the goals and objectives of C-TPAT. In
one working group we shall look closely
at private sector partnerships to facilitate
secure trade, striving to improve the security
of the supply chain through best
practices implemented by businesses and
verified by governments.We will identify
best practices and lessons learned from
our respective efforts to develop such
programs, and we will seek ways to integrate
our efforts.
Nevertheless, although the United
States and Europe have made great
strides, there is still much work to be
done in our efforts to prevent terrorist
attacks and secure global trade.We must
support one another, and learn from one
another, as we continue this work. Together,
we can better secure the United
States and Europe against the threats
posed by terrorists operating around
the globe, and we can reduce the vulnerabilities
of the global trading system. I
am confident that, at the same time,
we shall make the trading system more
efficient.
Robert C. Bonner is the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
at the Department of Homeland Security. He is the first person to serve in this
position, having been appointed by
President George W. Bush on March 1, 2003. He was appointed Commissioner of
the U.S. Customs Service on June 24, 2001. He was previously a partner in the
Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunner & Crutcher, where he specialized in crime, justice, drugs and global trade issues. He has also served
as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (1990-1993), as U.S. District Judge for
the Central District of California (1989-1990), and as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of
California (1984-1989).
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