Currently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has three active Industry Partnership Programs that are designed to deter and prevent narcotics smuggling and terrorist activities via commercial cargo and conveyances, which include the Carrier Initiative Program, the Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition and the Americas Counter Smuggling Initiative.

Programs and Trade Relationships:

• The Carrier Initiative Program (CIP), established in 1984, is a joint effort among air, sea, land and rail carriers and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to address the problem of drug smuggling and terrorism in the United States on board commercial conveyances. By signing the CIP agreement with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, carriers agree to enhance their security at foreign and domestic terminals as well as on board their conveyances. Additionally, they agree to cooperate closely with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in identifying and reporting attempted or suspected smuggling attempts or other criminal activity.

  In return, CBP agrees to conduct both domestic and foreign security site surveys, post seizure analysis, and provide training to identify security weaknesses within their company and suggests improvements to better their security systems and measures.

• The Business Alliance for Secure Commerce (BASC) is a private sector led and controlled coalition that has been supported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) since its creation in 1996. As a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of Delaware as the World BASC Organization, the BASC is an international business alliance created to promote supply chain security in cooperation with government agencies and international organizations.

  The BASC was created to address the problem of concealing contraband in commercial trade. As a voluntary program for businesses, with no government-imposed mandates, corporate participants are expected to follow BASC’s security standards which are designed to significantly improve their security practices and in the process deter contraband smugglers and terrorists from using their companies to introduce contraband and implements of terror in legitimate shipments.

  The BASC program examines the entire process of manufacturing and shipping of merchandise from foreign countries to the United States, emphasizing the creation of a more security-conscious environment throughout the supply chain. The BASC currently has over 2,500 companies that have been certified by the organization. And it operates in 12 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

• The Americas Counter Smuggling Initiative (ACSI) is a priority undertaking, established in 1988 by CBP, to build upon the success of CIP and BASC by strengthening and expanding our anti-narcotics and anti-terrorism security programs with industry and government. ACSI is made up of teams of CBP inspectors and agents detailed to assist businesses in developing security programs and initiatives that safeguard legitimate shipments from being used as vehicles for drug smuggling or terrorist actions. The target countries are the same as those where BASC chapters exist. The ACSI teams travel to each target country approximately four times a year to provide hands-on training and site surveys to BASC members in the trade industry.
• The Land Border Carrier Initiative Program (LBCIP) Developed in the Spring of 1995 to address the threat of drug smuggling along the southwest border, the purpose of the LBCIP is to deter smugglers of illegal drugs from using land border commercial conveyances to transport their contraband. As of July 1, 1996, all importers wishing to use line release must use one of the 825 (to date) LBCIP carriers.

Industry Partnership Programs Accomplishments:

• Over 4800 participants in CIP
• 24 Super Carrier Initiative participants
• Over 1000 participants in BASC
• Creation of 16 BASC Chapters
• Over 100 ACSI deployments since 1998
• Inclusion of BASC in WCO Business Partnership