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(U) What Happened to the United States Customs Service? (part 1)
FROM:
NSA Representative to BCBP/BICE (S112)
Run Date: 11/18/2004
How responsibility for border security was consolidated in the Department of Homeland Security
(U)
(U) Protecting our nation's borders is of prime concern to all Americans today. The magnitude of
this challenge can better be appreciated when we consider that last year 55 million people
entered the U.S. by air, 15 million by sea, and 327 million over land. The number of vessels that
crossed our borders last year is also staggering: 203,000 ships with 9 million containers of
cargo; 576,000 commercial planes and 132,000 private aircraft; 11 million trucks; 2.4 million
rail cars; and 119 million cars.
(U) The enormous responsibility of keeping our borders safe from illegal activity and criminal
elements today lies primarily with the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP) and the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), both within the Department of
Homeland Security. This article seeks to clarify and provide background information regarding
the transition of the former United States Customs Service and its associate partners into BCBP
and BICE.
A Herculean Task: Protecting our Borders
(U) Our country shares a 5,252-mile border with Canada and a 1,989-mile border with Mexico,
with just over 300 international land-based ports of entry. Intertwined with our borders is a
maritime system that includes 95,000 miles of coastline and navigable waterways, as well as a
global transportation network of over 300 seaports, 429 commercial airports, and several
hundred thousand miles of highways and railroads that offer access to almost every community
within America. One quickly realizes that the challenges to the defense of this network and the
nation's security are immense.
(U) Prior to the formation of the Department of Homeland Security three separate agencies were
responsible for border security:
The United States Customs Service (Department of Treasury),
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (Department of Agriculture), and the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (Department of Justice).
Included within the Immigration and Naturalization Service was the United States Border Patrol.
(U) With the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, components of these agencies
were reassembled as BCBP and BICE and brought together under the Border and Transportation
Security Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security. In a nutshell, BCBP includes the
various inspectors at our borders plus the Border Patrol; BICE brings together the investigation
and enforcement elements.
(U) Watch for part two of this article soon on SIDtoday.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108