CBPMajor reorganization at CBP: Two new offices created

By Robert Lee Maril

Published 2 December 2015

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been significantly reorganized, according to a recent internal agency memo. CBP’s current four Operations Offices, however, will not be a part of the reorganization. These four offices, which employ 75 percent of CBP’s total workforce, include the Office of Field Operations, the U.S. Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations, and the Office of International Trade. New offices in the proposed reorganization include Operations Support and Enterprise Services. The CBP reorganization comes in the wake of an unprecedented CBP scandal.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been significantly reorganized, according to a recent internal agency memo. According to R. Gil Kerlikowske, CBP Commissioner, the purpose of the reorg is to realign “…the agency’s headquarters structure to better support our personnel in fulfilling CBP’s critical mission. This will be accomplished in the reorg because it will “…emphasize delegation of authority, more defined and accountable decision-making and reduced span of control for management.” Full transition into the new CBP organizational structure will take place within the next few months (R. Gil Kerlikowske, CBP memo, “CBP Headquarters Realignment,” 29 October 2015).

CBP’s current four Operations Offices, however, will not be a part of the reorganization. These four offices, which employ 75 percent of CBP’s total workforce, include the Office of Field Operations, the U.S. Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations, and the Office of International Trade.

New offices in the proposed reorganization include Operations Support, which is charged with “…improving planning, policy and requirements development” at CBP. The other new office at CBP is Enterprise Services which will oversee “…activities and services, from hiring to budget acquisitions, which are vital for providing operations needed staff and capabilities to be successful.”

Two new executive positions also have been created to lead the new Operations Support with Enterprise Services Offices.

The CBP reorg comes in the wake of an unprecedented CBP scandal. In the summer of 2014 James F. Tomsheck, senior executive in charge of Internal Affairs, sought protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989.  Tomsheck specifically alleged at that time that a large percentage of CBP agents and officers along the Mexican border was guilty of graft, corruption, and violence. He also charged that potential cases against these agents and officers along with other CBP employees were languishing due to leadership mismanagement driven by an intentional reluctance to prosecute.

At the same time another whistleblower, Lieutenant Commander J. Gregory Richardson (retired) came forward. Richardson, a former special assistant and senior security analyst to Tomsheck at CBP IA, provided a series of documents and extensive interviews that seriously questioned Tomsheck’s allegations. Instead, Richardson suggested Tomsheck’s own actions and decisions while leading CBP IA were a crucial and significant part of agency mismanagement Additional accounts and documents supported by employees and former employees at CBP IA also suggested that Tomsheck himself played an important role in some of the same charges he had leveled against CBP (“Violence and corruption scandal at CBP: FBI clean up or cover up? — Pt. 6,” HSNW, 17 June 2015; “CBP IA Operation Hometown reduces violence and corruption: Tomsheck shuts it down — Pt. 5,” HSNW, 27 April 2015; “CBP IA’s SAREX: Tomsheck’s program goes rogue — Pt. 4,” HSNW, 18 February 2015; “Tomsheck’s ‘July Amnesty’: CBP IA loses hundreds of cases alleging criminal activity by CBP Employees — Pt. 3,” HSNW, 12 January 2015; “James F. Tomscheck forced disabled veteran from CBP IA — Pt. 2,” HSNW, 24 November 2014; “Vet alleges supervisors at CBP IA ignored his disability: ‘He Just needed an ounce of compassion’” — Pt. 1,” HSNW, 28 October 2014 ).

Tomsheck has since stated that CBP pressure forced him to resign from his leadership post at CBP IA (Anna Werner and Laura Strickler, “Disturbing sex abuse within agency that patrols U.S. border, says former top official, CBS News). Janine Corrado, former Director of Tomsheck’s Integrity Programs Division, was reassigned, while Jeffrey Matta, former Assistant Director, was reassigned and demoted. A disproportionately large number of security analysts and senior security analysts working at the Integrity Programs Division have either been forced out, reassigned to other agencies, or taken early retirements.

Woody Lee will fill the new position of Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner at Operations Support. Lee, currently Chief of Strategic Planning and Analysis at the Border Patrol, has extensive experience in the Border Patrol including serving as the Deputy Chief Patrol Agent of the Rio Grande Valley Sector.

Eugene Schied will fill the newly created position of Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner at Enterprise Services (R Gil Kerlikowske, “Headquarters Realignment Update”, 10 November  2015). Schied was the first Deputy CFO for DHS and also has served in senior level positions including the Budget Director of the Federal Judiciary, Deputy Assistant Attorney General/Controller at the Department of Justice, and Assistant Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration ().

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