US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano (left) met with the Shannon Airport Authority yesterday on the first day of her European tour.She has several meetings scheduled over the next few days in Ireland mainly focused on aviation preclearance operations, including the Shannon facility, which is due to open next month.
Secretary Napolitano yesterday paid a visit to the Shannon Customs and Border Patrol facility in Shannon, Ireland today. She thanked them for their service and pledged to do all she could on this trip to make sure that the aviation preclearance agreements between Ireland and the US are in place and implemented by the end of July.
Speaking about her European trip, the Secretary said: "The next four or five weeks are going to be a—keep focus on the counter-terrorism aspect of this Department. Why, because it is the reason this Department was started and there's a lot of work to be done in that area. One of the first things I will be doing is leaving on a week-long trip Saturday to Europe and to Kuwait where I'll be working on Homeland Security issues in a variety of ways. In Ireland we will be evaluating aviation preclearance operations. In other words, there are going to be certain places around the world where we will actually—in a way—push the border out for purposes of loading on cargo for purposes of aviation. We will begin phasing that in on July the 29th."
