SENATORS, INDUSTRY CONCERNED WITH CUSTOMS’ ROLE IN HOMELAND SECURITY

SENATORS, INDUSTRY CONCERNED WITH CUSTOMS’ ROLE IN HOMELAND SECURITY    Senators and industry executives on Tuesday expressed their concerns about the mission of the U.S. Customs Service if would to be brought into the proposed Department of Homeland Security.
   Speaking before the Senate Finance Committee, James Clawson, chief executive officer of JBC International, and secretariat of the Joint Industry Group, said Customs’ role as trade facilitator must not change.
   “This committee has a responsibility to take the necessary steps to guarantee that Customs’ commercial operations and trade facilitation have equal priority with border security,” Clawson said. “Working together, we can find this balance.”
   Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chair of the committee, said lawmakers and the Bush administration need to be mindful of Customs’ role in trade facilitation and security, adding that the agency’s participation in national security has become more complex since Sept. 11. If the agency’s role should change in such a new agency, the significance of that shift is profound, he said.
   “The processing of imports and exports are at the very heart of Customs’ mission,” Baucus said, adding that in fiscal 2001, Customs processed more than 25 million entries of cargo valued at more than $1 trillion. Customs collected about $20 billion in duties, taxes and other fees on that cargo.
   While bringing Customs into the new agency could be a positive step, 'the single-most important factor is to ensure the Customs Service is kept intact,” said Samuel Banks, senior vice president of Sandler and Travis Trade Advisory Services.
   Banks, who served as a former Customs deputy commissioner and as an acting commissioner, said the agency has formed close relationships with the international trade community. “It is essential that this be sustained under any reorganization,” Banks said. One such example of this partnership is the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism, which calls on the international trade community to enhance security of the international supply chain, he said.
   The Joint Industry Group recommended establishing an Under Secretary for Commercial Operations, whose office would assure equal priority for commercial operations within the Homeland Security department.
   Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the agency’s role as a trade facilitator and border monitor must be maintained, even if Customs is transitioned into the larger organization.
   “I am afraid that dividing the agency might create a dual regulation and dual inspection process,” Grassley said.