Senate Homeland Security Committee Leaders Seek Info on Advance Electronic Data From Administration
While the U.S. Postal Service bilateral data sharing agreements with some foreign counterparts have improved data and targeting procedures for inbound U.S. shipments, information shared by those overseas agencies is sometimes inaccurate or incomplete, the top Republican and Democrat of the Senate Homeland Security Committee said in a Nov. 20 letter to several U.S. agencies. Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and ranking member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., are seeking several points of information regarding executive branch efforts to curb imports of opioids and opioid analogs, including the total number of packages containing opioids, and “total amount of opioids by quantity,” seized by CBP, broken down by carrier -- such as UPS, FedEx, DHL and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
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Further, the senators want data from the Department of Homeland Security showing the total number of shipments and amount by weight of opioids seized at U.S. ports of entry, broken down by airport, seaport and land port of entry categories; the total number of scientists working at CBP labs to analyze unknown substances “believed to be” illicit narcotics in seized packages, the total number of authorized scientists, and a description of efforts to fill any vacancies; the total number of private express shipper international mail facilities at which CBP has a presence, and the number of CBP officers at each facility; and the total number of CBP officers at each USPS international service center. Among the critical situations the letter points out is that “it remains relatively easy” to ship small drug parcels from China into Hong Kong, then to the U.S., as USPS data sharing agreements with Hong Kong’s postal service “remain limited.”
The senators also sought in a separate letter to the State Department all of its documentation of diplomatic efforts inside and outside the Universal Postal Union to enhance sharing of accurate and verified advance electronic data on U.S.-bound mail, as well as copies of all guidance or policy documents State has given USPS to assist its efforts to get advance data from foreign postal operators. Advance data obtained by the U.S. government should be in English, and be accurate and complete, Johnson and McCaskill said in a letter to USPS.
The committee is also seeking copies of all USPS guidance and policy documents for handling packages received from foreign postal operators with Customs Declaration Form CN 22 or CN 23 containing incomplete or inaccurate information, or filled out partly or completely in a foreign language. Additionally, for such packages, the senators seek the total number of them that the USPS received, by country of origin, for each of the last three years, as well as the number of the packages inspected, returned or allowed to reach their intended recipient without further inspections. Finally, Johnson and McCaskill seek from the USPS the cost analysis of the advance data pilot program at JFK Airport International Service Center (see 1709080023) and the cost analysis to expand the pilot to all five USPS international service centers, all of which are in the U.S. The committee leaders seek the requested information from DHS, State and USPS no later than Dec. 15.