today's hearing assistance and the subcommittee will come to order the subcommittee on border maritime and global counterterrorism is meeting today to receive testimony on cargo security and land ports of entry are we meeting the challenge so good morning everybody in today's hearing will examine cargo security at our land ports along entries on our northern and southern border the subcommittee is focused on reviewing the growing challenge the department of homeland security faces in identifying interdicting and investigating cargo security threat to put the challenge we face at lam ports of entry into perspective let's think about it this way there are over one hundred sixty land border crossings between the northern and southern borders forty three of these crossings are dedicated to commercial use only and many of those are operated and staffed twenty four hours a day over eleven million truckloads and two million rail cars come through those ports annually contributing to over three hundred thirty billion dollars in the hundred nine billion dollars worth of imports respectively and with those numbers in mind it is important to facilitate trade and to ensure that cargo and truck crossings are secure and that the challenge that we will examine today this hearing comes at a time when our ports of entry are experiencing infrastructure limitations and staff shortages trafficking attempt in addition there's been an increase in cocaine in cash trafficking between the united states and canada and with the volume of trucks and railcars and trina next city in the country it's impaired that we have means to ensure that they are secure and that we inspect them as needed as a sovereign nation we need to be able to control the engrossed in the eagerness from our country not just the people but of cargo and that is why men tristen hearing from both of our government and industry witnesses today about what is and what is not working also i'm interested in hearing from ice about investigations into truck related seizures that originate in mexico or canada but are found in the united states and i believe that we must improve our overall border infrastructure to accommodate the growing amount of commerce in the increasing number of people who really do cross back and forth on the border today and i saw mr acquire and i know that he has talked to me about this over and over because we need to avoid delays and we need to make sure the trade is going on in a smooth manner considering many of the primary inspection of trucks crossing into united done by c b p officers there is a valid argument to be made that staff shortages at ports of entry facilitate the importation of narcotics into this country i have always advocated for an increase in officer staff i know that chief aguilar in particular has  been very interested in this issue and we've worked on it together and i hope that we will take a look at a c b c authorization bill that might address some of these problems and that's also one of the reasons why i wanted to hold this hearing today i want to thank all of you for being here today and i look forward to receiving your testimony and now i will yield to my ranking member missed out or for his opening statement thank you madam chair i think this hearing news important and timely  one hand we have the u s manufacturing industry suffering from a recession in the last thing they need to worry about is whether or not they will be able to get parts and supplies across the border on the other hand we have like a during a poll drano an f b i director mueller confirming before congress at the end of september that al qaeda remains committed to attacking the us going to f b i director mueller of particular concern to the f b i or individuals who can travel with fewer restrictions to beas areas of extremist activity and then enter the united states under less scrutiny we know that terrorist groups not to mention criminal and drug organizations are constantly looking for vulnerable points in order to bring weapons or people or drugs into the united states in addition we see a growing trend of intellectual property rights violations which are reportedly helping to fund cartels and terrorist organizations and dramatically hurt u s industry our inspection and investigative capabilities must be robust this hearing is an opportunity to hear our advanced targeting is working in the status of imaging and radiation scanning equipment also water ice as investigators are saying in terms of trends and how do they allocate resources across their wide ranging mission sets at the same time we must evaluate whether we are unnecessarily causing delays or hurdles at the border according to testimony from the american trucking association on the second panel the value of trade between the u s and canada has decreased by thirty percent trade value between the u s and mexico has decreased by eighteen percent this decrease is not the fault of the customs inspections but i think we need to take an objective walk at the processes at the border to see where additional facilitation is needed and could be helpful like to welcome steve russell representing the american trucking association and second panel his company is based in indianapolis indiana and i think his testimony will be especially valuable given his experience moving cargo on both border security and facilitation at landlords of entry is not just an issue for border states my congressional district in indiana is the especially options for extending the lanes leading up to the expedited processing lane for program participants additionally where do things stand with and the two programs intended to modernize border processing  trade and c b p as well as link and other federal entity to the extent that they are able to help the witnesses will be forthcoming with additional resource requests and legislative changes that may be necessary to work with to be nice to assist the work to be nicer doing to carry out the critical missions i am confident that mr kelly mr russell in the second panel will have multiple recommendations for us on a related note i would again like to express my desire for the subcommittee to consider border security legislation will address both sides of this issue to better secure our borders and ports of entry and have how to better facilitate legitimate trade and travel thank you again madam chair and i look forward i thank mr sattar and believe me we are taking a look and i've been talking to our chairman a full committee about those bills that we might be able to mark up and some will come forward this at least in this new month of november the chair will now recognize the chairman of the full committee the gentleman from mississippi mr thompson for an opening statement thank you m m chairwoman welcome being in today's hearing on cargo security at our nation's land port of entry america's land ports of entry are critical gateways to travel and trade every year  threats in the stream of commerce at the same time and they are facilitating the trade and travel that is the lifeblood of the economy both in border regions and across the country this is no task ask given the volume of commercial traffic crossing our borders it is imperative that d h asked ensure cargo trucks and rail cars do not become vehicles for smuggling operations just this month a canadian truck driver was arrested in blaine washington with one hundred ninety two pounds of cocaine worth about three million dollars in june of this year total of one thousand and ninety pounds of marijuana was discovered in two commercial trucks in el paso texas incidents such as these are warning signs regarding other possible threats coming into the u s through our ports of entry this method of smuggling narcotics  other contraband could also be attracted to those who seek to do harm it is imperative that we address the potential threats d s s has made strides in utilizing inspection technology and equipment encouraging stakeholders to assist in securing the supply chain and enhanced and cooperation among law enforcement agencies so the nif account challenges remain many ports of entry were constructed decades ago and was simply not built to accommodate more than security technology and procedures in addition to employ structured challenges staffing has not kept up with  need thousands of new border patrol agents have been hired in recent years while only a relatively small number of customs and border protection offices have been added to the ranks at the ports of entry these limitations not only on the mat security but hamper the department's ability to expedite bio commerce ultimately we must do what it takes to secure our borders and as you our ports of entry operat our first witness mr todd owen was appointed executive director of the cargo security office within the office of field operations at customs and border protection there must be a long title on your card in may of two thousand and six mr owen is responsible for all cargo security programs and policies for the c b p including the customs trade partnership against terrorism program all non intrusive inspection technology and radiation portal monitor deployment the national canine enforcement program and the national targeting center for cargo welcome and our second witness janice currently serves as a deputy assistant director of the financial narcotics and public safety division within the office of investigations another long title there in this position she has direct oversight of the financial markets and national programs conducted by ice offices throughout the united states so without objection your testimony your written testimony will be put into the record i know that we haven't before and i will ask you to summarize your statements in five minutes let's start with mr o the morning chairman sanchez ranking member sautter members of the subcommittee i'm honored to be here this morning to discuss how u s customs and border protection is filling our border security and trade responsibilities at our land border ports of entry i would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to the cause for its continued support of the mission and people of c b p among the numerous priorities that were recognized in the american recovery and reinvestment act of two thousand and nine congress provided c b p with six hundred eighty million dollars for greatly needed improvements to our aging infrastructure tactical communications equipment and non intrusive inspection technology this funding will allow c b p to more efficiently meet our twin goals of border security and facilitation c b p has made tremendous progress in ensuring that supply chains importing goods into the united states are more secure against potential exploitation by terrorist groups or narco smugglers c b p uses a multilayered approach to ensure the integrity of supply chains from point of stuffing through arrival at u s ports of entry this multi layered defense is built upon interrelated initiatives which include the trade act of two thousand to the automated targeting system non intrusive inspection equipment radiation portal monitors the customs trade partnership against terrorism or c t pav program and a free and secure trade initiative or fast these complementary layers and hand security and protect our nation in a land border environment c b p receives advanced manifest a to on every truck and every rail shipment prior to arrival at the border crossing c performs a risk analysis on a chip meant using our automated targeting system and along with other targeting tools high risk shipments are identified by the primary c b p officer and sent to a secondary examination location for closer scrutiny and inspection in our ports deploys non intrusive inspection technology which includes large scale x ray and gamma imaging systems which allow c b p officers to assess the contents of each trailer or container for anomalies or areas of concern prior to nine eleven c b p deployed only sixty four large scale non intrusive systems to our nation's borders today we have over two hundred thirty systems operational with another fifty new or replacement systems to be deployed over the next eighteen months as part of the stimulus funding that c b p receive this in fiscal year two thousand and nine one of every four trucks that crossed our land borders underwent a non intrusive inspection technology review c b p also deploys radiation detection portals at entry points nationwide the first radiation portal monitor was deployed in detroit in two thousand and two and today we have over fourteen hundred scanning portals allowing us to scan one hundred percent of the cargo from mexico ninety nine percent of the cargo from canada and ninety eight percent of our maritime cargo arriving into our seaports c b p also works in partnership with the trade community to secure supply chains before arrival at the u s port of entry under the customs trade partnership against terrorism program nine thousand companies voluntarily strengthen their security measures c b p validates the security enhancements and affords the member reduced inspections to facilitate this low risk trade additionally the fast program promotes free and secure trade by using common risk management principles supply chain security industry partnerships and advanced technology to improve the efficiency of screening and clearing commercial cargo in our shared border collectively pattern fast programs address dual responsibility of security and through voluntary partnerships with the trade community madam chairman chairman members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to describe some of our land border security initiatives and to highlight some of our progress to date i'd be happy to take any questions  partners more than sixty five hundred personnel both in the united states and abroad to keep ports of entry and transit points provided twenty four by seven investigators sponsor any call for assistance to a seizure or incident where law enforcement partners especially  n response initiate investigations with reports of seizures of weapons narcotics declared currency kind of the goods and other forms of contraband special agents responded the goal of identifying disrupting and dismantling the entire illegal enterprise i special utilize our customs and immigration authorities to initiate and begin investigations into the larger transnational criminal organizations who seek to exploit our borders and sure the prosecution by the u s judicial system i special agents also provide actionable intelligence and source  organizations what weaknesses in our legitimate trade traveling financial system has the ability to expand the scope of investigations beyond the domestic twenty six offices to the fifty six offices situated throughout the world this worldwide investigative posture and enables us to address security before they reach our borders and ports of entry the challenges of conducting investigations in the port environment or many but not insurmountable the porton border environments vary by geography size and investigative tools available to them these investigations are enabled by robust cross border coordination and information sharing amongst our law enforcement partners which positions to respond to any incident at or between the ports of entry the following is an example the type of investigation done by special agents to identify dismantle and not only the money laundering component of criminal organizations but the underlying criminal activity beginning in june two thousand and six charged atlanta began investigating a member of a drug trafficking organization based in northern mexico with criminal enterprises establishing the gallon in atlanta georgia metropolitan areas in particular this organization was responsible for the introduction of large quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the u from mexico through texas ports of entry by utilizing commercial tractor trailer truck load of legitimate merchandise the same type of commercial tractor trailer truck smuggled currency back to mexico during the course of the investigation the sec atlanta employed numerous investigative methods to infiltrate the organization in this multi by national investigation result in the indictment of forty one individuals in the u s and mexico including a high ranking member of the gulf cartel furthermore eyes and his partner agencies were able to seize over twelve thousand pounds of marijuana two hundred kilograms of coke and almost twenty three million dollars in currency in addition to the example of work done by special agents employees initiatives such as operation on the streets of us and far wall the container security initiative that investigative foreign those things and the driver will also apply for a card which requires additional background checks on the individual there are ninety three thousand fast drivers in the country right now both borders in northern and southern borders and there are nine thousand four and what status investigations are they that law enforcement officers are routinely it's not a perfect way but it's usually just part of it that's been intriguing why we haven't done that as we've ramped up concerns about the border  ports of entry where the border patrol or ports of entry and it's not a question the overwhelming majority but the problem is the more you hire the more risk you have and it's something we normally do in law enforcement i also wanted to  k the what but i doubt if you have it you might have a ballpark here today but if you could provide back to us what percent you might want to make break it by major and contraband or or major groups come from a tip or an investigation as opposed to a cold it still it's important to do a cold it to make sure but i'm wondering what kind of the balance and if you take the san diego entry they'll pass all entry to buffalo detroit and maybe the biggest arizona and those ports of entry and major cases and for a significant hopefully your work like you say if you get a cold it go the other direction because when we're dealing with for example most major driving organizations in the united states in cities or whether we're dealing directly in our products which are most of our web coming through  the caribbean or through almost all of those are investigations and the overwhelming majority is that from a tip the question is are we working that structure hard enough to meet other words it's not if we're important we really do our goal is to identify the entire organization was then again takes additional resources not necessarily those ports of entry but in the united states and abroad to bring the complete conspiracy  sure during this period where we have less traffic that we're trying to expand the fast lanes i've seen it in a few locations i've but i've seen as much about being projects being delayed as i've seen stepped up what are we doing at these critical crossings because clearly the long waits are at a few major ports we have shorter waits at some of the swelling and you're right with the economy being down we still see about fifty seven thousand trucks and the containers rail containers across the border every day so even with the downturn in the comedy the volume is still significant through the deployment of additional monitor inspection equipment we've actually been able to increase our exam rate in two thousand and nine we examined twenty five percent of the trucks using x ray or gam ray in two thousand and eight we're up to thirty percent this year so we're doing a good job i think of meeting those twin responsibilities of security yet facilitating the trade to your point as to the infrastructure even if we have twenty  a two lane highway leading from mexico into the port of entry you're going to have the backups so i agree with you that the solution is not necessarily infrastructure within the port of entry although that needs to be updated the average age of the ports are more than forty to forty five years old but the infrastructure leading up to the port and out of the port is just as critical as the booths that we have within the actual port of entry do you coordinate for example not like this hasn't been a problem for a long time in detroit in buffalo do you coordinate at all with are we pushing that to be resolved because the counter bush is is that we can inspections because we have the capacity and we do work with the canadian government as well as the stakeholders each crossing is a little different as to whether it's owned by a private bridge owner or g s a facility but we do work with all of the stakeholders to try to address the infrastructure challenges and not have a negative impact on the  i know for each of our crossings we do have figures as to what is our staffing at those locations and we do work very aggressively to try to make sure that the attrition rate is not significant enough where it is negatively impacting the workforce that we have there i think to positive changes to help us attract and retain c b p officers as well as border patrol agents in july of two thousand and six with the passage of the enhanced retirement for the c b p officers that definitely   two rail carriers that you addressed as for the penalties that are issued the carrier has a responsibility to ensure to do everything within their possibility or possible to make sure that the conveyance is dropping compromised that's just a section of the law where we are subject to the penalties but i will tell you that there are provisions for us to offset some of those penalties and in acknowledgment of the security enhanced made so we're working cooperatively with the rail carriers on that i would also like it noted too that the eight rail crossings that we have from mexico all of them are equipped with non intrusive inspection equipment so we do x ray one hundred percent of the rail cars that are coming in from mexico it allows us to very effectively find any legal aliens that are attempting to make entry as well as many of those narcotic interdiction reference the case in effort to where those drug cartels are going to recruit to get people in the inside so whatever you need to do to your internal affairs and whatever counter work you don't need to do that that's a big concern because if they're doing that across the river southbound vehicles routinely drive through without stopping and my concern is about the illicit trafficking of weapons and cash southbound and so my question is do you currently have a southbound traffic you're right the challenge there is the infrastructure unlike ports of entry when you're entering the united states in most cases there are not where the trucks will slow down be interviewed by c b p officer present certain documents it's really just highways straight open into into mexico and that makes our challenge very difficult we have increased our level of outbound inspections both not only in passenger vehicles but in buses and buses and trucks we've significantly increased the level of currency that we as we began this  initiative in march i believe on the southwest border last year we seized ten million dollars and in the fiscal year that just ended at the end of september we're up to almost thirty eight million dollars just in bulk cash going out into mexico along the southwest border so the infrastructure is a challenging piece for us the making sure we have the sufficient dedicated resources directorate southbound is important but i would also note that the mexicans share responsibility here as well the mexican government also needs to build up their capacity to do more inbound inspections as the trucks are leaving the u s heading into the border into mexico itself and is anything happening with that term the mexican side yes yes we have a different working groups with the mexicans the mexicans are security additional technology they are making some personnel changes within their customs service and things like that so they are doing more southbound inspections in certain locations we are better coordinated our outbound efforts and their inbound efforts so that the smugglers cannot just wait us out or move down inspect the southbound traffic as you wish pursuant to your plan but again the infrastructure is not there and even our inbound ports are very outdated and not equipped for the volume of today and definitely not equipped for the post nine eleven security environment so resources are a challenge both that the current inbound ports of entry as well as outbound mail thank you mr jala each year have huge amounts of narcotics are trafficked into the united states through the ports of entry along the southwestern border while the border patrol which defends the areas between ports of injuries has doubled in size over recent years and i have remained comparatively stagnant this makes it all the more important to maximize existing resources and one way to do this is to ensure that the federal agents at the border have the full authority to investigate drug offenses over the summer i signed an m o u that was expected to provide ice with a far greater authority to enforce title twenty one please tell me where you are in implementing this agreement and whether it is having the intended effect we are currently rigorously working with local protocols as you know we're working to stop those four calls between twenty six special agent charge offices which very different areas of responsibility and even within those individual s you both very much i yield back ok now for the young and gentle lady from california miss harman for five minutes madam chair you make my day i came over here to be called young i also came over here to commend you and the ranking member for an excellent set of hearings over this term of congress on issues like this this committee punches above its weight on the subcommittee on on the full committee and i just want you to know that i'm proud to be a young member of it so then our borders we've had a lot of conversation about the southern border i think about the northern border because that bring his trunk full of fertilizer down to my district and to blow up l a x international airport in my in my district so i want to commend you for the work that you did but i also want to point out that that work was not done by technology i don't think it was done by dogs if i remember it it was done by someone who could really assess just vicious behavior i see a number of you nodding so i think i've nailed it so my question is about how we doing on improving our tradecraft on recognizing suspicious behavior as we all know the israelis are really good at this i want to know if the americans are really good for the frontline the experience that officer that was that so i think we're doing a strong job of giving our officers the training that they need to recognize those and ultimately again it does come down to the instinct and the experience in the training of their frontline officer or any other comments i thi video produced about five years ago by the nuclear threat initiative that showed a truck loaded with a radiological bomb drove driving across and essentially unguarded border point in the north i'm i'm i'm not saying that  well that that was the point of this video and that's sort of the last shot in the radiological bomb so i worry about this a lot i don't think one hundred percent protection can be achieved perfection is not  is not possible but but risk management has to be the approach and that's why i say recognizing suspicious behaviors and especially integrating your operations and information sharing that many times that technology again not perfect even in its second generation but i appreciate everything you do and i really want to commend you for being one of the bright spots in our e process let's say i'm a trucker bringing in i don't know tomatoes from mexico and i'm bringing them into california what's the process i have to go through specially if i'm in fast or something like this say and not being able to get those types of documents or pass those types of tests in the sense that i have to go through the regular line and can you tell me if there's a difference between what what we really see in a practical sense what happens for example versus what might happen coming into michigan from the north on the land borders when whether you're different than three years ago three years ago the truck would pull up to the booth and the officer a piece of paper with some of that information he would start to run his checks so through the e manifest program as part of our automated commercial environment we now receive that ahead of time sixty minutes ahead of manufacturer and then the driver has to have a fast car what that affords them again is dedicated lanes which will expedite the release of that cargo we also focus our inspections more so on our non fast lanes that are  fast lane because again the fast universe is more known than the unknown but everyone in fast is still subject to inspection if there is cause or concern still subject to the canines and we will do different types of random enforcement operations for the next hour for example everybody in the fast lane is going into secondary to do those random so we do build in quite a bit of random activities even in the fast lane just to make sure everybody stay in honest and we're not overlooking anything in those lanes and this happens both at the i'm sorry the fast was thirty five drivers that was seventy one was the numbers that i was given from the fast drivers we had had thirty five incidents incidents twenty nine of those were not related four were currency smuggling two were alien a very the southern border and on the thirty five in the seventy one to both those cases what percent were larger companies you suggested that most of these were like single truck operations or small  have that information we can provide that as to the cause of the company comes a core of something that i felt for some time when we did a number of hearings on the border and another committee when we were in the majority we have representatives of the canadian trucking association that said that for expediting they would take even trouble penalties if they violate it fast they would trouble penalties now you have to address things like what you said i mean did it did you a rogue driver who loaded the trailer but that the corporation has to do that and take some responsibility for making sure what kind of drivers they have and so on and and one thing would be enhanced penalties now the big question here is is that if very few of these were traditional company they that that would it would suggest that in these larger drug companies in the united states that we really don't have a huge problem and in fact our attention on investigations and trying to deliver the even how you clear a fast lane person it is much more targeted because what you're really looking at much like you do when you check cargo  do know that every every once in a while they will detect a load of narcotics that was not caught at the border we work very closely with the state highway patrol and the what state it is like that work with our criminal investigators with ice to track that down so we do have a good and i welcome the second panel of witnesses our first witnesses calling kelly the leader of the national treasury employers union you and it represents workers and thirty one government agencies including the u s customs and border protection officers and employed the unions top of elected official she leads the union's efforts to advocate for federal employees and represents n t e u with the agency in the media and of course before congress welcome and our second witness is mr stephen russell who has been chairman and chief executive officer of celadon correctly trucking services since sounding the company in may of one thousand nine hundred five mr russell is a member of the american trucking association committee and the chairman of the audit committee and he previously was chairman of the homeland security policy committee without objection your full statements will be put into  record and i will now summarize her statement for five minutes or less thank you very much your woman sanchez ranking member senator and committee members i appreciate the opportunity to testify represents agriculture inspection specializations thereby threatening the quality of cargo inspections we believe an inspection specialization should be reinstituted in this workforce you also recognize infrastructure impediments  much members of the committee my name steve russell chairman and c e o of celadon group based in indianapolis indiana where u s trucking company that provides transportation services within the of our international supply chain it requires investing resources to develop security processes and systems which are closely verified by a growing concern of members is some drastic measures that  he has taken when a single truckload of contraband is found in a c t patch b p immediately suspends the carrier and turns off its identifying number this number allows the trucking companies customers to know if a carrier still in good standing with c b c t t passed before cancelling a carrier privileges due to a single incident c b p should consider first investigating how the illegal cargo access the fast lanes when transporting that cargo i urge this committee to work on other relevant and work with other relevant congressional committees to improve border infrastructure by developing tru fast lanes because right now essentially it's all in the last few hundred yards which means the lines are long to get through overall i think we've established a very strong partnership between industry and government agencies to  security challenges at our borders however with any partnership or marriage success can be achieved when both partners are working together to achieve a common goal could be somewhat more flexible in working with partners to correct security breaches and in developing security measures that will complement your business models while working towards our common goal of securing the supply chain by improving border infrastructure and information collection important need to develop a security culture within companies and subsequent need to improve cooperation with the government can you describe security outreach efforts to your industry can from a personal situation we have about four thousand employees run about three thousand trucks and about ten thousand trailers every one of our drivers is highway watch which means basically they are trained to ensure audited by the department of homeland security and stay very focused on security standpoint of america i think you will find in the truck in the american trucking association is a focus on wait in lines and in some cases i've seen long lines in some cases the process is pretty you know they're doing their part to make the process fast as you go through but sometimes the wait is pretty long in these lines what do you think  what can we do to bring the time to cross the border knowledge down and are there any other frustrations with respect to the whole process that you hear from the membership not kidding and he thought for a minute or two and he said i'm not talking about you to some talking about life he said lean into the pain from that philosophy is one that i believe followed i think are the tweaks that can be done yes in laredo for example it's on weekends the border is only open from ten o'clock to two o'clock could that be extended to absolutely can there be more folks hired to make the process faster yes the biggest issue for many an investment or a time stamp point are these fast lanes because right now the fast driver who has to pay to be fast to prove a company has to the sas program has a vision i thought was terrific the problem is without infrastructure changes in the roads themselves it's going to be difficult to achieve thank you miss kelly your organization is aware i hope that i've been one of the people that have been attempting to increase the number of people officers for some time now since i do believe that they are under staffed across the board and can you tell me how it affects the workforce this understaffed and how it affects you think what effect it has on the true security of our nation as you're because from an employee perspective of trying to have a life plan their family obligations with their children or their parents or their family that becomes impossible in places where they know they can always be held over example things of the sort i'm in particular very interested in the issue of agriculture because california my home state is you know a big agriculture state and we're always very worried about bugs and things coming through on paths from straw that one would never even think there would be there except for a certain worms or what have you and it's just felt to me like somebody who had seven weeks of training  if you look at all the types of documents one can enter this country and pretty big books specialize in that is a difficulty thank you for your testimony i'll recognize my ranking what happens when your drugs as opposed to when you go into mexico i'm sorry right now the law prohibits american trucks to go into mexico so our trucks don't go into mexico our trucks do go into canada and basically there's not much mexican trucking argument about whether mexican trucks are safe coming in the united states and all this type of thing and i've been involved with that for years but i'm not sure i fully understood you can't go in the actually go why do we allow mexican trucks in the united states if we that the chairwoman talked about in that accident but the drainage trucks literally can only go twenty or thirty miles i forgot the exact number of miles and those are generally mexican trucks that cross the border just to pull the trailer and then they go back to mexico they are not allowed to run in in the u so the trailers all the drivers are contracted in effect and when you say trucks are you talking about the driver's unit as opposed to the trailer exactly the trailer goes through we were the first carrier that's how i started the company in one nine hundred eighty five we were the first carrier to allow the trailer to go into mexico so we're allowing what we're doing accountability for the trucking companies that and we're talking about violations because one of my question going to be what percent even in domestically different companies deal with with contract a driver so no drivers on either side are basically employees of your company if it is there in canada in mexico in other words no no one american driver side of the border so how does accountability work here so when we get the trailer how how do you how do you do an investigation how how do you keep rogue cab drivers from sticking things on your truck way it works today in the add on the max have you been directly involved in a violation or do you know obviously other exact who have been and how exactly does this sort through because if we're trying to figure out canadian border is a free flow border and american tractor can take the load from kansas city to toronto same drive same trailer same tractor crossing the border quick question miss kelly i noticed that you have an accounting degree an undergrad and master's degrees i have a quick numbers question you said that we need four thousand more c b p officers does that include existing vacancies  and also do you have an estimate of the increased cost that that would be to the department can you yes thank you we believe the four thousand is over and above current authorized staffing that would be four thousand plus existing vacancies from a cost perspective i have not done those numbers for today and would gather that over the years so i can i can recalculate that today ok that would be great i appreciate that and then you talked about the inspection specialization can you give me an idea of the type and length of training that it takes to to have these specialized officers you know again i would have to check what the current training is what it used to be used respond quickly and adding to those questions and hearing no further business the step committee stands