Ridge: Trade won’t suffer in new Homeland Security Department

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and Customs Service Commissioner Robert Bonner met with 11 prominent trade representatives at the White House Wednesday to assure them that the speedy movement of goods across U.S. borders will be a priority of the new Department of Homeland Security. There has been concern among some that the Customs Service, which is to be merged with several other agencies to form the new department, might have its trade functions split from its security functions in the process. The functions "will be kept together," said Bonner. In the meeting, which was held in the Roosevelt Room with about 50 other trade representatives participating via conference call, Ridge and Bonner sought to alleviate fears that Customs' mission of facilitating trade would be lost or take a back seat in the new department. The Customs Service is charged with ensuring the efficient movement of goods across U.S. borders as well as screening cargo for contraband. In the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last fall, the movement of goods nearly came to a halt, causing millions of dollars worth of economic losses for U.S. manufacturers, after Customs instituted temporary emergency security procedures to physically screen all traffic crossing U.S. borders. "The president was very much aware of what went on at the borders," Ridge told the trade representatives. "We understand that enhancing border security and speeding commerce must be a dual mission." "There's not going to be any challenge within the administration" to that dual mission, Ridge said, but he added: "We may need your help on Capitol Hill." Bonner also assured the group that Customs' plans for modernizing its system for processing import entry and manifest data will continue. The new system, called the Automated Commercial Environment, will not be slowed as a result of Customs' merger with other agencies into the new Homeland Security Department. "If anything, the modernization effort will be completed more quickly," Bonner said.