The head of the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s border protection bureau has said that U.S. borders are more protected now against terrorists attempting to sneak into the country, possibly armed with weapons of mass destruction, than they were previously, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, March 21).

“Our assignment is pretty simple:  Keep terrorists and weapons of terrorism out of the United States; and while we’ve only begun to unify and integrate the federal agencies that will do the job, we are off to a good start,” said Robert Bonner, commissioner of the Homeland Security Department’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

The new bureau consists of all the formerly independent U.S. agencies that had been responsible for border enforcement, protection and inspection.  The bureau united these formerly disparate agencies into a single chain of command and eliminated up to six layers of bureaucracy between field agents and command staff, the Times reported.

Bonner said the bureau would continue to work to keep possible terrorists from entering the United States by developing “smarter border initiatives that extend our zone of security abroad.”  The bureau is currently managing two programs to that end: the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Program, which calls on shipping companies to develop measures to prevent ships from being used for terrorist purposes; and the Container Security Initiative, which stations U.S. inspectors at foreign seaports to check cargo prior to shipment to the United States, he said (see GSN, March 17; Jerry Seper, Washington Times, March 28).

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP

Back to top