On February 10, 2020, the Securing America’s Ports Act (H.R. 5273) passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support. Introduced last year by Representative Dan Crenshaw and Representative Torres-Small, the bill would drastically expand the usage of non-intrusive inspection (NII) equipment at U.S. ports of entry. If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary … Read more
On Saturday, February 8, the CT Strategies team attended San Miguel School’s 8th Annual Scholarship Benefit Gala in Bethesda, MD. San Miguel School is a boys’ middle school in Washington DC that aims to “transform lives and break the cycle of poverty through education.” About 90 percent of students attending the school live at or below the federal poverty level, and many of them are the first … Read more
What is e-Commerce? The exponential growth of e-commerce, or “high-volume, low-value shipments purchased via electronic means,” has engendered a shift from large container shipments to a high volume of smaller, low-value packages. As the number of small shipments grows increasingly high, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) faces new inspection challenges. Additionally, many new e-commerce … Read more
CT Strategies’ Allen Gina was invited to speak with Scott Miller, Bill Reinsch, and Andrew Schwartz on The Trade Guys podcast about U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) role in the trade world. Mr. Gina drew upon over 30 years of experience as both a uniformed officer in the field and as a Senior Executive … Read more
For U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), non-intrusive inspection (NII) technology has become an increasingly important tool in the facilitation of secure, efficient trade and travel. CBP’s NII capabilities include both large-scale and handheld X-ray and Gamma-ray imaging systems that permit the efficient and safe detection of contraband and threatening materials at ports of entry. … Read more
CBP aims to be the most innovative and trusted law enforcement agency in the world by pursuing the following goals over the next five years. CT Strategies looks forward to assisting trade and travel stakeholders in advancing these goals over the next 5 years. Goal 1: Mission – Protect the American people and facilitate trade … Read more
On December 5th, the Center for International Private Enterprise held a panel on Customs, Trade Facilitation Reforms, and Domestic Resource Mobilization. Prior to the panel, Linda Wilcox-Daugherty, a Senior Customs Specialist, presented a white paper produced by USAID that detailed recommendations for Customs reform and modernization to promote compliance, reduce inefficiencies, and increase the volume … Read more
On October 23rd, CT Strategies’ Andrew Farrelly provided remarks at the Kansas City Southern Railroad, annual ‘Mexico Energy Symposium’ in Houston. The daylong event convenes KCS leaders and energy sector executives from across Mexico to discuss how KCS’ Mexico-U.S. supply chain can support the cross-border movement of refined fuel and related products between the two countries. … Read more
Representatives from the transportation, hospitality, and technology sectors convened at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to discuss how their industries were working to combat human trafficking. In her opening keynote, Ambassador Catherine Todd Bailey, Chair of the Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking, discussed how human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal enterprise globally. … Read more
Over 540 customs and trade industry leaders from the public and private sector convened in Cartagena, Colombia for the Business Alliance for Secure Commerce (BASC) World Congress on September 19 and 20. The Congress theme was “Risk Management and Trust: The Road to Security and Competitiveness.” Participants celebrated BASC’s 22nd anniversary while discussing risk management, … Read more