WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.900
[Music]

00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:18.702
I think there has been a tremendous amount of growth for CBP.

00:00:18.712 --> 00:00:23.488
On June first of 2009, when we implemented the Western hemisphere travel initiative

00:00:23.498 --> 00:00:26.582
we transformed the way we do business at the land border.

00:00:26.592 --> 00:00:30.760
Meaning that every traveler entering the United States is entering with a secure document

00:00:30.770 --> 00:00:36.760
which is being queried against the law enforcement databases for terrorism and wants and warrants

00:00:37.053 --> 00:00:40.923
and at the same time I'm promising them a forty five second inspection.

00:00:40.933 --> 00:00:43.317
I'd say that's a home run.

00:00:43.327 --> 00:00:45.801
We were still conducting business the exact same way

00:00:45.811 --> 00:00:49.202
as when I was a grade five officer in Buffalo, New York.

00:00:49.212 --> 00:00:52.478
And I vowed, on the day that WHTI came in,

00:00:52.488 --> 00:00:56.899
we would take the land border into the twenty-first century; and we did it.

00:00:56.909 --> 00:00:58.966
It was heroics.

00:00:58.976 --> 00:01:02.931
It was heroics to get this done on time and on budget and the team really pulled it off.

00:01:02.941 --> 00:01:07.971
And every Officer in the field was there on June First of '09 and was ready for it.

00:01:07.981 --> 00:01:12.608
The program was nominated by the GAO, as one of the best-run Federal programs in the government.

00:01:12.618 --> 00:01:15.123
Everyone was okay, actually, carrying a document;

00:01:15.133 --> 00:01:17.545
no different than carrying a driver's license.

00:01:17.555 --> 00:01:20.458
Even my Mother, who didn't want to get a document realized that,

00:01:20.468 --> 00:01:24.135
"Hey, getting an enhanced driver's license isn't such a bad idea."

00:01:24.145 --> 00:01:30.115
It's just a personal source of pride for me and the agency, I think,

00:01:30.125 --> 00:01:34.255
and to this day, we still have a 97% compliance rate.

00:01:34.265 --> 00:01:39.762
The same kinds of efficiencies and effectiveness that we secured with WHTI

00:01:39.772 --> 00:01:42.249
could be done in our other mission core areas.

00:01:42.259 --> 00:01:44.427
I think the next ten years are going to be exciting.

00:01:44.437 --> 00:01:47.932
I think the future is extremely bright in terms of our ability

00:01:47.942 --> 00:01:52.631
to move people through the border in a very secure and efficient way.

00:01:52.641 --> 00:01:55.500
[Music]