[FOLKS] The Birth of CTPAT: Michael Laden on Building Supply Chain Security After 9/11

Simply Trade · Sep 11, 2026 · 40m

Host: Lalo Solorzano

Guest(s): Michael Laden

Published: September 11, 2026

Length: 40:24

Presented by: Global Training Center

Summary

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, U.S. Customs faced an unprecedented challenge: protect the country from another attack without bringing legitimate international trade to a standstill.

In this episode of Simply Trade, Lalo Solorzano sits down with Michael Laden, one of the original private-sector architects who helped shape what became the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT).

At the time, Michael was a senior trade executive at Target…