New Chief for Customs and Border Protection

(Washington Post – Spencer S. Hsu)

President Obama plans to nominate Alan Bersin, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s adviser for U.S.-Mexico border issues, to be commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, officials said.

Administration officials notified members of Congress of the plan to shift Bersin from his role as the secretary’s special representative for border affairs to CBP commissioner. Bersin will remain in the Homeland Security Department, but his new assignment unlike his current post requires Senate confirmation.

CBP is the nation’s front-line border agency, including among its nearly 52,000 workers the U.S. Border Patrol, air and marine units and customs officers.

Bersin has served as California education secretary, San Diego schools superintendent, and U.S. attorney for southern California under the Clinton administration. From 1995 to 1998, he was the attorney general’s southwest border representative, coordinating law enforcement issues between the United States and Mexico.