DHS Secretary Chertoff Outlines Border Security Plans

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omeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a speech Friday that DHS wants to continue to offer choices to the private sector that expedite and reinforce border security while efficient movement of goods, services, people and products.

Programs like the Free and Secure Trade and the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism “build on choices we offer to the private sector to submit to vetting, to put in place enhanced security in return for efficient movement of goods and services, streamlined screening and streamlined inspection,” he said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Chertoff, a former federal judge, was confirmed by the Senate as DHS Secretary in February, following predecessor Tom Ridge.

Chertoff said that if businesses “put in place robust screening and security protections that will assure us that goods and services and people are not a threat, we can offer you expedited processing, streamlined movement, and at the end of the day, a more productive result.”

He said the C-TPAT program — which was launched in November 2001 with seven companies and was set up to move vetted cargo rapidly through screening and inspection —now has more than 9,000 companies.

“Businesses are seeing the tangible benefits — both from a security and a business standpoint — in working with us and taking the choice to do this kind of vetting and operating within this security envelope,” Chertoff said.

Similarly, he said, "border security creates a great opportunity for us to offer choices of screening . . . as a way of expediting the movement of goods and services."

Chertoff said that by the end of May, DHS is committed to go back to the Presidents of the United States and Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada with specific goals and implementation dates, “to build on our past partnership efforts and move towards the goal of this new enhanced partnership.”