More significant CBP leadership changes: Possible reorganization

Head of IA at the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia since 2004, Klein began his career in 1989 as a beat cop patrolling a neighborhood known for high crime rates. After earning a graduate degree from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, he returned to Washington in 2001 and was hired by the Washington PD to force the agency to comply with federal standards regarding their deadly force tactics. (Brian Bennett, “Customs and Border Protection’s new internal affairs chief faces ‘very, very tough job’,” Los Angeles Times, 22 August 2015 8/22/15, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-cop-20150722-story.html ).

One major problem Klein will not have to resolve is CBP IA’s Integrity Program Division (IPD). The FBI’s Morgan was quick to get rid of Tomsheck’s problematic IPD by merging it with the Counterintelligence and Operations Liaison Group (CIOLG) to create a new department, the Threat Mitigation Division (TMD). The announced mission of the TMD is, “to identify internal and external threats to CBPs mission, information and people, and to develop and implement strategies to mitigate the identified threat.”

Prior to the creation of TMD, there were about 26 positions at IPD, including 8 Senior Security Analysts and Security Analysts, 2 IPD Behavioral Researchers, 13 IPD Security Analysts spread throughout the country, and several administrative assistants. The majority of these former IPD employees have either transferred to other jobs at CBP or to other federal agencies, voluntarily retired, or been forced out through early retirements.

Michael Mines was appointed to lead the newly minted TMD. Mines worked for eight years under Tomsheck. Mines Assistant Director at TMD is Susan A. Keverline. Keverline also worked at IPD under Tomsheck as one of two Behavioral Researchers who studied suicide rates, promoting suicide awareness and suicide prevention among CBP employees. Keverline holds a Ph.D. in Counseling and Human Development from George Washington University.

According to an internal memo, Mines is now voluntarily retiring from his new position at TMD. “From his arrival to CBP in September 2009, his expertise, and professionalism have been a benefit to us here in IA, CBP, DHS, and beyond. He will be missed here in the office, but no one deserves time to relax more than Mike.”

Keverline has been named Acting Director at TMD to replace Mines. Keverline brings to her new position, according to one agency memo, a, “…wealth of knowledge (that) will continue to serve her well in this role.”

While at IPD there were an unknown number of suicides among Customs Officers and Border Patrol Agents never publically acknowledged, discussed, or otherwise acted upon by CBP. Although Keverline was directly responsible for monitoring suicide rates among CBP employees during her time at IDP, including promoting suicide awareness and suicide education, none of her numerous agency reports on suicides among CBP employees has ever been made public.

Several days prior to Tomsheck’s sudden replacement as senior executive at CBP IA, two CBP field agents committed suicide while at work. The findings of two investigations into these tragedies and the possible links, if any, between these two employee suicides and internal management problems within IDP remain unknown.

Franklin C. Jones is currently the Executive Director of the Privacy and Diversity Office at CBP. Jones is particularly well qualified to have served in this capacity based upon his previous professional experience including service as a Senior Attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1990s. Prior to this work, Jones held a variety of positions at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission including Administrative Judge and EEO Investigator. Jones is also a graduate of the Senior Executive Fellowship Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. (Executive Director Franklin C. Jones, Privacy and Diversity Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection).

While Jones is still listed as the Executive Director of the Privacy and Diversity Office, he was apparently suspended for two weeks from his position as Executive Director of the Privacy and Diversity Office at CBP. It is rumored, but there has been to date no official confirmation, that Jones will be transferred from his present position to the CBP Office of Human Resources. It is not known at this time whether Jones will be demoted to a lower GS ranking from his present position in the Senior Executive Service.

Jeffrey Arndt was selected in August to serve in a key leadership position at CBP IA in El Paso, but he will not begin the job until the first week in October. As first Special Agent in Charge, Arndt will be the new senior executive of CBP IA El Paso, a crucial management position because El Paso and Juarez are central to any national strategy to control illegal drugs and undocumented immigration along the Mexican border.

Arndt began working for CBP in 2001 as a Canine Enforcement Officer in San Diego, and then became a Customs Special Agent in Oceanside and a member of their Special Response Team. His primary experience with problems and issues faced by Customs Officers and Border Agents derives from his professional experience with the Special Response Team. He became an employee of CBP IA in 2009 and also served on the Use of Force Working Group and the National Use of Force Review Board (New SAC El Paso Selection Announced, 17 August 2015).

Arndt’s appointment to this key senior management position in El Paso was a surprise to many employees given Arndt’s relative lack of managerial experience. Some employees have voiced concerned over Arndt’s selection given the availability of more qualified CBP executives who appear to have been passed over in favor of Arndt.

There are abundant rumors at CBP IA about additional leadership changes and an agency restructuring. Most recently Matthew Klein sent a memo to his employees in this regard. He told them, “I wanted to send out a quick note to all of you to briefly discuss the rumors going around about the reorganization of IA and CBP” (Mathew Klein, “Moving Forward,: 24 August 2015).

In this same memo Klein admits that there has been, “…a fair share of change over the past 12-15 months.” This time period roughly coincides with the replacement of Tomsheck at CBP IA. According to Klein, “…discussions continue regarding both the overall CBP-wide reorganization and the reorganization of IA.”

While Klein states that he, “…understand(s) dealing with change is often stressful and create significant anxiety,” he does not tell his employees if or when CBP will undergo any structural reorganization or further key changes in leadership positions. Klein does tell his employees in this same memo that he will provide them with any relevant information in this regard as soon as it is available.

Presumably such changes at CBP would be grounded in and address Tomsheck’s allegations which find support in a number of government reports about significant problems at CBP. These institutional problems include increased employee violence, graft, and corruption as well as an institutional failure at CBP IA to investigate charges against its own employees. While the FBI’s Mark Morgan appears to have reported to his superiors the findings from his analysis of practices and policies at CBP IA, his report has not been made available to the public.

Robert Lee Maril, a professor of Sociology at East Carolina University, is the author of The Fence: National Security, Public Safety, and Illegal Immigration along the U.S.-Mexico Border. He blogs at leemaril.com