DHS policy office adds trade component

DHS policy office adds trade component    Department of Homeland Security decision-makers are following U.S. Customs' lead in placing more emphasis on trade facilitation.
   The Office of Policy at DHS headquarters has created a new trade policy section to provide senior leadership with greater awareness about trade-related issues and make sure trade perspectives get heard during broader policy discussions, Ellen McClain, acting chief of staff for the policy branch, said Tuesday.
   DHS is actively engaged in several issues that have a significant impact on trade, including implementing the White House's intellectual property rights enforcement strategy, developing air cargo security rules without disrupting shipments, and helping to produce the Obama administration's global supply chain security strategy, McClain said.

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   DHS has completed the first draft of the strategy and the document is undergoing an interagency review.
   McClain was sitting in for Arif Alikhan, who recently left DHS as assistant secretary of policy to become a distinguished visiting professor at the National Defense University, she said during the quarterly meeting of the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee in Washington.
   McClain will be responsible for Alikhan's duties until a replacement is found.
   She spent 21 years in the legacy Customs Service earlier in her career. ' Eric Kulisch