Speak up, or suffer in silence
James Aaron Cooke, Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 1/1/2003
Last year, Congress approved the most far-reaching reorganization of the federal bureaucracy since World War II. The mammoth Department of Homeland Security will have the power to radically change the way shippers do business in this country. Yet when Congress rushed through this legislation without full and proper debate in a lame-duck session, there was nary a word from the shipper and carrier trade groups. Perhaps they were afraid to speak out for fear of being tar-brushed as unpatriotic.
The Homeland Security law is a classic example of lawmakers performing a look-good exercise in order to appeal to voters. Consolidating all of the agencies it will include under one roof will not make one iota of difference when it comes to stopping terrorist attacks. Indeed, if the Homeland Security Department is supposed to thwart a terrorist attack in the heartland of America, why does it lack its own intelligence-gathering resources? Why isn't the FBI or the CIA under its wing?
Although bureaucratic reshuffling of agencies will do little to foil terrorism, it could do a lot to foil the supply chain management practices of U.S. companies. For example, on any pretext, the Department of Homeland Security could seal the border and bring cross-border trade to a screeching halt. Its interpretation of new federal powers—such as the new rule that requires shippers and carriers to provide U.S. Customs with 24-hour advance notice of ocean shipments— could impose onerous burdens on international shippers. U.S. businesses that have worked hard to reduce inventory and adopt Just-In-Time (JIT) shipping practices may have to accumulate "just-in-case" stockpiles of goods and materials to keep factories running and stores stocked when borders are closed.
In the year ahead, the Homeland Security Department will issue guidelines on how the new security rules will apply to transportation. Shippers need to speak out at any and all public forums to ensure that the federal government balances the interests of commerce with that of national security.
They'll get their first chance to speak up this month when Congress holds hearings on President Bush's appointments to run the Department of Homeland Security. Congress must not rubber-stamp the president's nominees as it did the Homeland Security legislation.
In particular, shippers should ask their federal representatives to scrutinize the appointment of Asa Hutchinson to the post of Under Secretary for Border and Transportation. If appointed, Hutchinson would oversee Customs as well as the federal agencies that regulate transportation security. Yet Mr. Hutchinson, the current head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, appears to have neither the background nor the temperament to ensure that trade facilitation will be granted equal priority with law enforcement. Shippers should press their congressmen to grill Mr. Hutchinson on his plans for keeping trade flowing across our borders.
The Department of Homeland Security's policies may well determine the direction of transportation and logistics in this nation for decades to come. The government potentially could end up undoing all of the gains of deregulation in the name of national security. Shippers must speak out—or suffer the consequences of their silence.
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