DHS seeks agriculture advice from COAC

DHS seeks agriculture advice from COAC    The Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection agreed Friday to set up a subcommittee focused on issues related to the import and export of agricultural products.
   Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border security at the Department of Homeland Security, made the request because it is “critical” for the department to get help from industry since Customs took over responsibility for animal and plant inspections from the Agriculture Department last year.
   “It is very important for us in the department to have a strong relationship with those in the agricultural sector,” Hutchinson said.
   If COAC had declined the request, DHS would have formed some other type of group to provide advice “because we have to have that level of communication” with the agriculture industry, he said.
   COAC will bring in technical advisors to provide expertise the current membership doesn’t have in agriculture, said COAC member Carol Fuchs, a trade lawyer with KMZ Rosenman. The first organizational meeting for the new subcommittee will take place within a few weeks, she added.