U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE SHIFTS FOCUS TO TERRORISM

The new chief of the U.S. Customs Service said Tuesday that terrorism has
replaced drug smuggling as the agency's top priority, and that since Sept.
11 he had redeployed hundreds of agents to provide round-the-clock
inspections at the Canadian border to prevent terrorists from entering the
country.

As a result of the redeployments along the Canadian border, a preferred
entryway for terrorists in the past, Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner
said the agency has been forced to cut the number of inspectors dedicated
to special units that search for illegal drugs and for exports of
high-technology products. The alert has been raised along the border with
Mexico as well, but the Customs Service had already increased its presence
there in recent years.