January 7, 2008

ISSUE 1200

CBP APPOINTS AG OPERATIONAL OVERSIGHT CHIEF

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Jan. 3 it had appointed Kevin Harriger to the new position of deputy executive director, agriculture operational oversight.

Harriger has 26 years experience in protecting American agriculture with USDA. Prior to assuming his duties as deputy executive director, he served as director of policy and planning for CBP’s agriculture programs. He is charged with ensuring a more consistent application of agriculture inspection policy across all U.S. ports of entry.

Harriger will be the primary point of contact for Joint Agency Task Force coordination issues for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and stakeholders. He also will conduct outreach to federal and state officials on agriculture border inspection issues, oversee the joint CBP/APHIS Agriculture Quality Assurance program, monitor agricultural performance measures for risk and efficiency, ensure compliance with all agricultural program directives and policies, and ensure agriculture specialists have the equipment and resources they need to perform the agriculture inspection function.

The announcement comes after DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Dec. 14 that he would create the position as part of an effort to make agriculture inspections at all points of entry into the United States a top priority. The effort came in the wake of evidence that since DHS took over responsibility for agricultural inspections in 2003 from USDA, fewer agricultural inspections have been conducted at important points of entry and the morale of agriculture specialists has been low.