Bersin: terror threat doesn’t impede border

Bersin

    Reports of a potential al-Qaeda plot against Washington or New York around the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks led to a heightened state of alert for law enforcement and intelligence authorities, but normal precautions didn’t result in delays for travelers and shippers moving across the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin assured the public Friday.
    Speaking to reporters after a panel discussion with two former CBP commissioners to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy, Bersin said the agency has developed risk management and intelligence systems since then so it doesn’t have to use the blunt instrument of inspecting every conveyance to cover itself when alert levels go up.
    “We do not expect to see a return to inspection of every cargo or every trunk in a pedestrian vehicle,” he said.
    In the days following the terror attacks trucking companies experienced backups of 13 hours or more at the Canadian border.
    Trusted traveler programs such as SENTRI on the southern border have helped speed up commerce and are useful in the event of a security threat in terms of allowing officers to focus more attention on motorists and others about which less is known, the commissioner said at the Wilson Center in Washington.
    SENTRI (Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection) is a voluntary program in which travelers pay an upfront fee to undergo a background check, fingerprint check and interview. Pre-approved persons receive a radio frequency identification card that identifies them and their status in a CBP database, and have access to a dedicated lane at ports of entry.
    Bersin said 30 percent of the traffic at the busy San Ysidro checkpoint near San Diego is now SENTRI registered and gets processed in 20 minutes or less. — Eric Kulisch