Customs, Secret Service employees honored for post-Sept. 11 work

The House of Representatives passed two resolutions Tuesday honoring the employees of the Customs Service and the Secret Service for their work after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The men and women of the U.S. Customs Service and Secret Service are truly on the front lines in the war on terrorism," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who introduced the resolutions earlier this month with Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla. "Our nation owes them a debt of gratitude for the leadership and commitment they demonstrated on the day of the terrorist attacks, and that they continue to demonstrate every day since."

Both agencies had offices in the World Trade Center. All Customs employees made it out safely, but one Secret Service employee, Master Officer Craig Miller, was killed when the buildings collapsed.

A congressional resolution can originate in either chamber of Congress and does not require the approval of the other house. Resolutions are generally used to express sentiments, such as condolences, and do not carry the force of law.

On April 30, Istook and Hoyer will tour the agencies' field offices in New York City and visit ground zero.

Since Sept. 11, Customs has changed its focus from catching drug smugglers at the nation's borders to homeland security. John Martuge, field office director of the New York Customs Management Center, told Government Executive in January that his employees quickly made the adjustment to the agency's new mission.

"We were there, we saw the effects and when the focus of the agency changed, we were ready to make that adjustment real quick--not that it doesn't mean much to people in other places of the country, but we understood the reason for it," he said at the time, adding that the new focus may have helped some of his employees cope with the attacks.