The Commissioner of Customs has designated drug enforcement to be Customs’ highest priority. Internal Control Weaknesses and Other Issues Raise Concerns About the Line Release Program

Line Release is one of two programs the Customs Service is using at its land-border cargo ports to segregate low-risk shipments from other shipments. In 1987, Customs began implementing the Line Release Program at cargo ports along the Southwest border; by the end of 1989, most of the major Southwest border cargo ports had fully implemented the program. In August 1997, Customs developed national Draft Line Release Quality Standards that, among other things, established volume and compliance eligibility criteria for program applicants and recertification standards for program participants. These weaknesses included (1) the lack of specific criteria for determining applicant eligibility at two of the three ports, (2) incomplete documentation of the screening and review of applicants at two of the three ports, and (3) lack of documentation of supervisory review and approval of decisions. Customs Officials at Three Ports Have Little Confidence in the Three Tier Targeting Program

Customs developed the Three Tier Targeting Program to help identify low- and high-risk shipments so that inspectors along the Southwest border could focus their attention on shipments determined to be high-risk for narcotics smuggling. Description of the Three Tier Targeting Program

In 1992, Customs implemented the Three Tier concept—a method of targeting shipments for narcotics examinations—at Southwest border ports. . . .” Port officials told us their inspectors now rely on other cargo entry programs—such as Line Release—to identify shipments that are low risk for drug smuggling. Prefile Process and Automated Targeting System Provide More Current Information to Assist in Identifying High-Risk Shipments

“Prefile” is a cargo entry process used at the Port of Laredo to expedite low-risk shipments. Recommendations

We recommend that the Commissioner of Customs strengthen internal control procedures for the Line Release application and review process to ensure fully researched and documented risk-assessment decisions on applicants; suspend the Three Tier Targeting Program until it can be determined if more complete and comprehensive data are available on which to base “low risk for narcotics smuggling” risk assessments; and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the Automated Targeting System, as designed and implemented at Laredo, and use the evaluation results to determine whether other land-border cargo ports should implement the system or whether additional testing is needed. Customs management, in their written comments, acknowledged that the Prefile Process, used in conjunction with the Automated Targeting System, does not require the use of preapproved carriers and drivers cleared under the Carrier Initiative Program and that this could be seen as a disadvantage. Yet, in July 1996, Customs strengthened the Line Release Program by requiring all participants on the Southwest border to use carriers approved under the Carrier Initiatives Program.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Custom Service's drug-enforcement operations along the Southwest border of the United States, focusing on: (1) Customs' low-risk, cargo entry programs in use at three ports on the Southwest border--Otay Mesa, California; Laredo, Texas; and Nogales, Arizona; (2) the results of GAO's evaluation of internal controls over the Line Release Program; and (3) the processes used to assess the risk of narcotics smuggling in other cargo entry programs.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) to balance the objectives of facilitating trade through ports and interdicting illegal drugs being smuggled into the United States, Customs has initiated and encouraged its ports to use several programs to identify and separate low-risk shipments from those with apparently higher smuggling risk; (2) the Line Release Program was designed to expedite cargo shipments that Customs determined to be repetitive, high volume, and low risk for narcotics smuggling; (3) in 1996, Customs implemented the Carrier Initiative Program, which required that the Line Release shipments across the Southwest border be transported by Customs-approved carriers and driven by Customs-approved drivers; (4) after the Carrier Initiative Program was implemented, the number of Southwest border Line Release shipments dropped significantly; (5) GAO identified internal control weaknesses in one or more of the processes used at each of the three ports it visited to screen Line Release applicants for entry into the program; (6) these weaknesses included: (a) lack of specific criteria for determining applicant eligibility at two of the three ports; (b) incomplete documentation of the screening and review of applicants at two of the three ports; and (c) lack of documentation of supervisory review and approval of decisions; (7) in May 1998, Customs representatives from northern and southern land-border cargo ports approved draft Line Release volume and compliance eligibility criteria for program applicants and draft recertification standards for program participants; (8) the Three Tier Targeting Program--a method of targeting high-risk shipments for narcotics inspection--was being used at the three Southwest border ports that GAO visited; (9) according to officials at the three ports GAO reviewed, the Three Tier program had two operational problems that contributed to their loss of confidence in the program's ability to distinguish high- from low-risk shipments; (10) one new targeting method--the Automated Targeting System--is being pilot tested at Laredo; (11) used in conjunction with the Prefile Program, this system is designed to enable port officials to identify and direct inspectional attention to high-risk shipments; (12) the Automated Targeting System, which automatically assesses shipment entry information for known smuggling indicators, is designed to enable inspectors to target high-risk shipments more efficiently; and (13) Customs is evaluating the Automated Targeting System for expansion to other land-border cargo ports.