http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0131cpb0131.html

Secret Service chief in line for top customs post

Mike Madden
Republic Washington Bureau
Jan. 31, 2006 12:00 AM


WASHINGTON - President Bush will nominate the director of the Secret Service to run Customs and Border Protection, the chief agency responsible for guarding U.S. borders.

The White House announced Monday that Bush had chosen W. Ralph Basham, 62, a veteran Secret Service agent and manager, to be the next commissioner of CBP, pending Senate confirmation.

Part of the Department of Homeland Security, CBP oversees the Border Patrol and immigration and customs inspectors at land-border crossings, airports and seaports. The agency employs about 41,000 people. Its top job had been vacant since late November, with Deputy Commissioner Deborah Spero serving as acting boss.

At the Secret Service, Basham has been director since 2003 and helped oversee its transition from the Treasury Department to Homeland Security.

He was chief of staff at the Transportation Security Administration when that agency was established and ran the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, which trains agents for the Border Patrol and other federal law enforcement organizations.

If confirmed, Basham would move to an agency on the front lines of the U.S. effort to stop illegal immigration and prevent terrorists from entering the country.

By choosing a veteran federal cop for the job, Bush may escape controversy of the sort generated when he tapped Julie Myers, a lawyer with close ties to other Bush administration officials but little law enforcement background, to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Earlier this month, Bush gave Myers a recess appointment to that job, which didn't require confirmation.

Like Myers, Basham has no experience in immigration or border security. But administration officials on Monday pointed to his long resume in other law enforcement fields as proof of his qualifications.

"Ralph's extensive law enforcement career, his work internationally and within several components of the department make him a superb fit to lead CBP's vital mission," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement.

But the president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for about 10,000 Border Patrol agents, predicted Basham will keep the agency from making aggressive changes in the way it seeks to prevent illegal border crossings.

"He's a safe choice," said T.J. Bonner, union president. "Of course, that spells trouble for the men and women out on the front lines because it means that nothing is going to change.

"We're going to have someone who continues to spout the company line."