A top U.S. interagency working group delivered to President Bush a strategic framework on Monday, in which they advise the nation's strategy should be "smarter" to improve the import safety.

"It is not possible to eliminate all risk with imported and domestic products," they acknowledge, so there should be a "smarter" strategy based on three keystones: prevention, intervention and response.

The report recommend working with the importing community to develop approaches that consider risks over the life cycle of an imported product, and that focus actions and resources to minimize the likelihood of unsafe products reaching U.S. consumers.

That will require "our import safety strategy to shift from the current point-of-entry intervention model to a prevention with verification model that addresses product safety at every step of the producer to consumer import cycle," the group said in the report.

Recent recalls of imported products have caused Americans to question the safety of imports. The group, made up of senior U.S. administration officials, was established by Bush's Executive Order on July 18 to conduct a comprehensive review of current import safety practices and determine where improvements can be made.

Chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, the group reviewed what is being done to promote import safety at three stages: in the exporting country, by U.S. importing companies, and by federal, state, and local governments.

The group also promises a follow-up action plan to be released in November, which will come up with a risk-based, prevention-focused model to ensure that "safety is built into products before they reach our borders."