Border security agencies seek partnerships with private sector

As the new Homeland Security Department begins its work, component agencies charged with securing the nation's borders, seaports and transportation systems will seek to collaborate with the private sector, largely through voluntary partnerships and federally funded pilot projects.

"We believe the [terrorist] threat is as high today as it's ever been," Andrew Maner, chief of staff of the Customs Service, said during a recent meeting on cargo security. "And the threat is not just against innocent people. It's against economic targets."

Noting that the Customs Service has spent millions of dollars on new technologies since Sept. 11, 2001, Maner said real-time information sharing is crucial to the agency's "twin-pillar strategy" of improving border and port security without hampering global trade.

Customs will begin enforcing a new regulation Feb. 2 that requires shippers to transmit electronic manifests at least 24 hours before U.S.-bound vessels are loaded in foreign seaports. "The importance of this information cannot be overstated," Maner said.

Boosting port security technologies also will be a key priority for Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine. She called port vulnerabilities "the greatest challenge that we now face."

Last year's port security law authorized $90 million in research and development grants over six years to improve Customs' counterterrorism technologies, and it authorized the Homeland Security Department to implement a long-range, satellite-based tracking system for all vessels in U.S. waters.

Importers also are using those types of devices on a voluntary basis as part of the nine-month-old Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. The program enables Customs officials to use satellite tracking technology and electronic transponders to move certain pre-approved shippers through border security checkpoints in seconds.

The Transportation Security Administration is considering fast lanes for pre-screened airline passengers. Those "trusted traveler" would undergo voluntary background checks and then use biometric identification cards to bypass most security checkpoints.