Spotlights

As Shaine Casas stood poised above the pool at the summer Olympics in Paris, it seems like a variety of events led him to this moment: Years of training at the highest level, becoming a U.S. and world champion, the days of sacrifice by his mother, and the latest push to reach excellence that brought him to France for his first games. But maybe more than all the rest was one fatal moment more than 20 years earlier that led to him to this point. "It was destiny, for sure," Casas said. “It happened when I was so little and set the tone for the rest of my life.” The event, happening when he was a…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) made a significant step forward in its information technology systems. At the end of last year, CBP officially shutdown CBP’s Mainframe as a Service, fully retiring CBP’s mainframe environment and transitioning to modern cloud-based systems. This latest move to update the system reduces the time to deliver Information technology (IT) capabilities and provides greater flexibility to meet everchanging CBP mission demands. "We are here to commemorate a significant leap forward in our agency’s technological capabilities,” said CBP Senior Official…

Transitions for our military community can be daunting with thoughts of learning new skills, adjusting to new positions, and the trepidation of adapting to the civilian workplace. These transitions are made easier with the assistance of military friendly employers, like U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hosting transitioning service-members in strictly non-law enforcement roles via the Department of Defense (DoD) SkillBridge Internship Program. Lawrence Standifer Jr., a recent U.S. Air Force Retiree, experienced just such a seamless transition into his current role as Mission Support...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) partners with the Department of Defense (DoD) SkillBridge Internship Program to provide transitioning servicemembers, who are 13 months away from military separation, the opportunity to transition into permanent CBP positions at no-cost to the agency. CBP’s Veterans Employment Program Manager (VEPM), Jeff Jack, oversees the national placement of DoD SkillBridge interns into non-law enforcement, mission support professions. SkillBridge cannot be used to staff frontline law enforcement positions. Current CBP, DoD SkillBridge training specialist intern…

Uniformed personnel stood at attention May 16 as agents and officers escorted the families and loved ones of each of CBP’s fallen heroes honored this year at the CBP Valor Memorial and Wreath Laying Ceremony in the Woodrow Wilson Plaza outside CBP headquarters in Washington, D.C. CBP honored 11 employees – seven from recent years and four from the agency’s earliest years – lost in the line of duty and added their names to the Valor Memorial. CBP gathers annually during National Police Week to honor the now 369 agents and officers of CBP and its legacy agencies who died in previous years while…

William Cleaver was scrolling through the internet when he saw a posting on a law enforcement forum that made him stop and take notice. “If I’d been on that site three times since I joined, it would be a lot,” said the current supervisory U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer and retired New York police officer. “For some reason, I just clicked on it.” Cleaver saw that New York State Correction Officer Timothy Zeller found an engraved memorial plaque and accompanying flag, folded and framed in a triangle display case at the Stormville Flea Market in upstate New York. The forum posting...

At a time when the U.S. economy is thriving, a standing-room-only crowd packed the halls of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit on March 26-28 in Philadelphia. The three-day conference, which attracted 1,200 on-site and 3,000 virtual participants, focused on the critical need for strong communication and partnership. “CBP remains committed to our partnership with you and the broader trade community. The Summit is an excellent opportunity for us to provide you with critical updates on our efforts, explore areas of shared interest, and hear from you…

Ask anyone who has worked with Rob Jackson, a Communications Specialist with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Talent Management Directorate, and they will tell you he is dedicated, compassionate, and likable as well as bound to succeed in whatever role he chooses. Having served more than 20 years with the United States Army, he is also a proud veteran. Jackson initially joined CBP via the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Non-Paid Work Experience (NPWE) Internship, a program for non-law enforcement mission support positions designed for disabled veterans who are at various…

Astrid Gilbert’s job was defense on Super Bowl Sunday. But she wasn’t part of the San Francisco 49ers or the Kansas City Chiefs at the game played in Las Vegas; she was a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations pilot. “I manned the aircraft that was in charge of aerial surveillance and reconnaissance,” said Gilbert, who normally flies out of Yuma, Arizona. She, along with a camera operator in the seat next to her, provided a video downlink to CBP forces and other federal, state and local law enforcement on the ground to keep an eye out for crowd control, traffic incidents…

Nancy Wang is an International Trade Analyst with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Trade. Originally from Taiwan, she majored in foreign language during her undergraduate studies. On her path to becoming an educator, she learned English and Japanese with the goal of becoming a teacher. After she came to the U.S. to earn her master’s degree, Wang’s first teaching position was in Seattle at a Japanese school. It only took her one year to realize this was not the end of her journey to a fulfilling career, so she decided to earn a second masters, this time studying law at the...