BONNER: TRADE TO BE HEARD IN HOMELAND SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

BONNER: TRADE TO BE HEARD IN HOMELAND SECURITY ADMINISTRATION    U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner on Thursday said that if the President’s plan to combine 22 federal agencies into one department of homeland security goes through, Customs would most likely move into the agency remaining intact.
   Bonner said it was likely President Bush’s proposal would be approved by Congress within the next five months, and the new agency would be responsive to industry’s need for security and trade facilitation. He said he has held several discussions with the president and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge on such a proposal since last fall, and that he expected to have more input in the future.
   “I want to assure the trade that their voice is going to be heard,” Bonner said. “The president — I have discussed this with him — and Gov. Ridge and I fully support trade facilitation, and the improved efficiency of moving trade across our border.
   Bonner, in a press briefing in Washington, said he anticipated the merging of Customs and the Immigration and Naturalization Service into one group, under the title of U.S. Customs and Border Administration. As such, this new branch would focus on trade facilitation and border security.
   Bonner added that having both functions in one branch would allow trade to go to one location for compliance concerns, classifications and duties. “If one split the U.S. Customs Service, you would end up, in my judgment, with the trade’s worst nightmare,” he said.
   Bonner wanted to dispel rumors in industry that such a reorganization would take focus off development of Customs’ Automated Commercial Environment, a computer system to monitor trade. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Bonner said. “If anything, it is going to speed up the completion of the ACE project, not slow it down.”
   He stressed that ACE and other integrated computer systems would play a large role in allowing agencies within the larger development share information and allow inspectors the ability to inspect high-risk containers before arrival at any points of entry.
   Bonner said that, while proposals for such a large reorganization had been called for in the past, none of them had had such a mandate as the one on the table, especially after the terrorist attacks last fall. “The difference here is that all of these proposals were made before Sept. 11,” he said.
   Bonner added that Customs hopes to install another 1,300 inspectors at U.S. points of entry, and that more congressional funding was necessary to provide relief for those inspectors who have been working overtime since Sept. 11. “This has been more overtime than would be normal,” he said.
   Bonner added that he would like to hear more input from industry on the proposal to form the new department of homeland security. “I am a little disappointed,” he said of a lack of recent input from trade on the proposal.