Aguilar says trade facilitation to remain CBP priority

   There will be no letup in the rapid pace of reforms underway at U.S. Customs and Border Protection to reduce red tape associated with trade enforcement so that legitimate cargo can be cleared and processed as efficiently as possible, Acting Commissioner David Aguilar said 10 days into his new job.
   In an invitation-only meeting with three reporters, Aguilar emphatically pledged to build on the initiatives begun by his predecessor, Alan Bersin, to modernize the way the agency does business and bring down the cost for companies bringing cargo across the border.
   The former Border Patrol chief said his focus on trade is so serious that on Jan. 3, the first day of his tenure as CBP’s leader, he convened a meeting of his top international trade deputies “to ensure that we do not step back in any way on all of the things that we have undertaken over the last couple of years.”
   Among those at the meeting were Al Gina, assistant commissioner for international trade; Kevin McAleenan, acting assistant commissioner for field operations; and Maria Louisa O’Connell, senior advisor for trade and public engagement in the commissioner’s office.
   Trade facilitation “is something we are going to continue to stay focused on, something we feel is critically important,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar

   A 32-year veteran of the Border Patrol, Aguilar was promoted to CBP’s deputy commissioner in April 2010 and took the helm of the border agency on Dec. 30, after Bersin’s temporary political appointment expired when the Senate did not confirm him due to a political tiff with the White House. He is likely to remain in the post for more than a year because the Obama administration is not expected to nominate a new commissioner before the November election and any subsequent nominee would require Senate approval in 2013.
   Bersin, to the delight of the trade industry, launched an aggressive campaign after taking office in early 2010 to overhaul CBP’s operations and expedite the flow of legitimate trade. Many private sector officials were skeptical about the chances for substantive change after two decades of what they perceived as broken promises and a post-9/11 focus on security that increased the steps required to clear cargo.
   Aguilar said CBP has to go “beyond” balancing trade and security because there is no real security without economic competitiveness.
  The acting commissioner said his priorities include:

• Coordinating cargo release with other government agencies through the Border Interagency Executive Council and other collaborative efforts to ensure consistent enforcement, with the ultimate goal of achieving the single-window concept for filing and sharing trade information.
• Creating a 21st century border approach to rationalize processes for moving trade and travelers, which includes the new perimeter security approach to enforcement being discussed with Canadian and Mexican officials.
• Simplified entry.
• Upgrading and integrating trusted shipper and traveler programs.
• Strong outreach to the trade community, including efforts to consistently publicize new developments and how they impact importers and exporters.
• Co-creating new programs and processes with trade experts at their inception to minimize impact on commercial operations, as was successfully done with the Air Cargo Advanced Screening pilot for securing express air shipments prior to departure.
• Pushing ahead to complete the automated trade processing system known as ACE.

   Aguilar also stressed the need for what he termed “bi-directional education” so the trade community and CBP learn more about each other.
   “We need to know more about how we operate, what we look like, what our constructs are, what the challenges are, where the opportunities lie and how we reach efficiencies in a way that makes us both better at what we do,” he said.
   CBP has an important role to ensure security and regulate lawful and safe trade, but it also has “a responsibility to build towards efficiencies, towards identifying the means to drive costs down to the industry” and focusing inspections on high-risk or unknown cargo, Aguilar said, echoing a common theme of Bersin’s administration.
   His management style, which he followed as Border Patrol chief, is to reach out to stakeholders and establish a clear operational strategy, he said. 
   (Read the feature story “Customer service at the border” in the January American Shipper to learn more about CBP’s efforts to streamline cargo release and document processing for importers.)   — Eric Kulisch