Customs and boarder protection

Customs and boarder protection abbreviated as CBP is the largest law enforcement agency in the United States of America whose main mission is ensuring that the United States of America stays safe from military attacks and military weapons channeled to their country via terrorists.

Terrorists have made the United States their major target in the event that they want to make a major attack. CBP therefore has the responsibility of protecting the country against such attacks that emanates from the United States borders. Customs and boarders protection also has the responsibility of regulation and facilitation of trade.

No country is independent in the sense that it will consider trading. There are resources in one country that another country does not have. It is therefore important to network the right policies for trading between trading patterns. On the same note, CBP also has the responsibility of collecting the import duties. Import duty is the taxes levied on investors and the citizens of America on goods imported. An importer is the owner or the purchaser of the goods that are entering the country via the different boarders or ports.

They channel in huge level of revenues in the American economy. It is their responsibility to ensure that they arrange for an examination of the goods imported to allow release of the goods to him or her. The examination is very essential because the procedure will help to determine whether the goods imported are legal or illegal. This therefore creates an opportunity for the authority to make a step in the case where after the test, the goods are found to be illegal in the United States of America.

Border and transportation security also abbreviated as BTS is an important part of security policy that will influence positively the homeland security level of the USA. Transportation involves mechanisms put in place to protect people and goods when travelling on the different mediums of transportation in America.

The different federal agencies must take responsibility to ensure that security in both the borders and the transportation system. CRS report for security mentions “immigration-related border security issues; cargo security issues; aviation and non-aviation transportation security; and maritime security issues” as the primary issues of concern in relation to border and transport security.

According to Chalko, Labowicz, et al (2003), cargo security operates under the surveillance of a cargo security system. The system is implanted on the cargo transportation devices in order to monitor the movement of the cargo until it reaches the clearance stage. It is most important that the importer is guaranteed of the safe landing of his or her shipments just the same way he or she guarantees the state that the shipments that he or she is making is safe for the country.

An approximate value of over twenty four million cargo containers arrive in the USA ports every year. Customs and Border Protection, which works under the department of United States of America’s homeland security has the major responsibility of ensuring that the cargos coming in via the different ports of the United States are secure and are not a threat to the country’s security.

Before the cargo is cleared, certain procedures must be followed. First the carries reports on the arrival of the shipments. The carrier must also ensure that he provides the importer with the identifier number to ensure that there is a proper clearance procedure.

On completion of filling the forms, the importer gives the forms to the US customs for verification. Certain imported goods must undergo a more verification procedure.

The government through the help of the distinct departments carries out a detailed verification procedure on some goods to verify that the goods are safe. Once all the details are reviewed, the available duties or taxes must be settled in order for the importer to be allowed to take the goods imported. The importer can choose to go on the whole procedure himself or with the help of a broker.

Reference

Chalko, G., Labowicz, M., Lanigan, W., Mirabella, P., & Moldenhauer, K. (2003).

Prokop, D. (2004). Smart and safe borders: the logistics of inbound cargo security. International Journal of Logistics Management, The, 15(2), 65-76.