This is a 2 part problem
First, I do not currently know any language except HTML however I am very willing to learn and believe I would be able to learn a language with the proper guidance. Now to the sofware issue -
I am interested in writing my own (or collaborating) software program for my job. The software can be written in any language however it must follow the guidelines set forth by US Customs and Border Protection in the CATAIR. I am wondering where to get help in deciding what language to write in then some guidance on where to start.

This totally depends on the software you're planning to make.

Could you give at least a brief description on what you plan to do?

I don't want to discourage you, but HTML is NOT a programming language.
Anyway, if you could describe your problem a bit better, we could suggest a language that fits your needs.

The program is for me to input data then transmit that data to US Customs about shipments being imported from overseas. My side of the software has to be user friendly for entry clerks to input and then in the background the software needs to take certain elements of the data and transmit them to Customs. Customs in turns transmits responses to us that have to be accepted and translated into user friendly responses. Below is a website where there might be more information that might explain it better.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/operatio...atair/chapters/

Without reading the docs, but just reading your needs, I'd say you'd probably want to take a look at C#.

Since you have an HTML background, I would say writing a web application would be the easiest for you, because you could build the GUI with HTML, and it seems to fit the problem quite well.
The server side part could be anything from PHP (usually the easiest to learn for web developers), but I would go with Java (so you are not locked into a Vendor's product), but C# might do the trick as well (I personally find the documentation on Java much better, that could be a great plus especially if you are learning it right now, but some say that MSDN is just as good - for them-) However I think there are much more free libraries and developer tools for Java as well, that can come handy if you have to communicate with other systems.
Also, if the other systems you are connecting to are based on Microsoft technologies, maybe it is better to use their technology, otherwise you might have to bridge gaps that you could avoid otherwise.

To be honest, just about any language could do this.

I would recommend not using C-sharp simply because you limit yourself to one platform. Who's to say all of the customs offices run Windows?

This post has been edited by Tom9729: 2 Feb, 2008 - 06:26 PM

If it's going to be a web app, it doesn't matter what operating system customs people run on their desktops.