Spotlights

Almost two years ago, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations (OFO) wanted to understand ways to better attract, retain and advance female officers. Leadership found that female officers thrived when they had visible female leadership, mentorship and support systems. These insights inspired the creation of OFO’s Law Enforcement, Leadership, and Legacy (3L) Alliance Program. The 3L Alliance Program creates a space for female officers to meet monthly and openly discuss career development opportunities, successes, challenges and other significant career moments...

Have you ever wondered how you can become a U.S. attaché, serving your country while working overseas? For U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Attaché Amy Cloud, becoming an International Relations Specialist (IRS) paved the way. Cloud gained valuable experience as an IRS, leading to further exciting opportunities such as helping create the first border police in Costa Rica. She also visited every Central American country more than once, sometimes with high level leadership, speaking in front of private sector groups, visiting ports, organizing a conference and meeting the president of...

As the first days of summer began to unfold, the 15th term of Customs and Border Protection’s trade advisory committee came to a close. Members of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, known as COAC, convened virtually for their last public meeting on June 23, signaling a time of endings and new beginnings. “This is the final meeting of the 15th COAC and there are 12 of us who will be jumping off and handing the baton to the next team for the 16th term,” said Lenny Feldman, one of the COAC trade co-chairs and a senior member of the Sandler, Travis, & Rosenberg law firm. “…

Since his first ride-along with a local police department, Supervisory Marine Interdiction Agent Cleon Arrington was hooked on law enforcement. By the age of 22, he was pinning on a badge and wearing his passion for protecting his community. His love of safeguarding and serving others encouraged him to start his own security company as a side hustle, which gained the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrington was originally contacted by a Border Patrol recruiter and found himself in short order at the Border Patrol Academy, where he began to hear about Air and Marine…

Air Interdiction Agent (AIA) Presley Rose recalled her first encounter with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) at a job she had as a flight instructor. After seeing an AMO helicopter land, she introduced herself to the AIAs. The agents gladly answered her questions on becoming an AMO pilot and in two minutes she was hooked. “When someone is passionate about something it compels you to listen and want to know why.” Rose quickly learned that as a pilot with AMO she could combine aviation and law enforcement – something that she also wanted to pursue...

My name is Chimsakda “Chuck” Uk. I’m a Marine Corps combat veteran and a proud member of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) family. In the Marines we had a saying, “If you do what is easy, your life will be hard. But if you do what is hard, your life will be easy.” Hard is what we did in the Marines. However, if you had told me 10 years ago that after my discharge from the Marine Corps I would one day become a federal employee, I wouldn’t have thought it easy. Why, you ask? Well, the reason is deadly serious. Like many combat veterans, I never thought I would survive my Afghanistan…

Change was the dominant theme when U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s trade advisory group met virtually on March 17, for its first quarterly meeting of 2021. As the COVID-19 pandemic marked its first anniversary, members of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, known as COAC, met with CBP’s new Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller for the first time. Miller, who has been leading the agency since mid-January, co-chaired the public gathering and emphasized the importance of having a strong partnership with the trade community. “What’s been clear to me in my almost two months…

Aviation Enforcement Agent (AEA) Alison Garduno has been around aircraft her entire life. Her father was a Naval officer stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, and her mother managed a base flying club. Eager to find her own path to the sky, Garduno changed course in college and joined the Navy as a Naval Aircrewman Mechanic. In her two years of specialty training and flight school, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) was discussed as the “golden goose” of aviation careers. Ever since those conversations, she knew a career with AMO was exactly what she wanted...

It is said that if you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it, to work day and night for it, to give up your time, your peace and sleep for it, that with the help of faith, hard work, and perseverance you’ll get it. Jay Bishop, an Army veteran and current Management and Program Analyst within the Office of Congressional Affairs (OCA) at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) headquarters in Washington, DC, personifies this mantra magnificently. Bishop explains, “My path to participation in the VA’s Non-Paid Work Experience Program (NPWE) internship wasn’t my first choice upon...

Agency delivers massive security effort at Super Bowl LV during global pandemic. On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off Super Bowl LV to a stadium about 38% full – the lowest in-person attendance ever recorded in the history of the big game. Though millions more watched the big game – the first ever held during a global pandemic – from the comfort and protection of their own homes this year, and the stadium was filled with more cardboard cutouts than people, for CBP, it was business as usual leading up to and through game day. The Super Bowl, America’s most…