Bersin top candidate for CBP chief

Bersin top candidate for CBP chief

Bersin

   Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is strongly considering Alan Bersin, chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority and a former federal prosecutor, to be the next Customs and Border Protection commissioner, according to a source with close ties to the highest levels of the department.
   Bersin ‘is definitely on the short list,’ said the source, who would only discuss the matter on condition of anonymity.
   Several other sources on Capitol Hill and in industry said they have heard Bersin mentioned second-hand as the choice to head CBP.
   The fact that no other names are floating around Washington’s rumor mill suggests that Bersin is the leading candidate for the job. An official announcement about a new CBP commissioner has been delayed by the lengthy background check process as the Obama administration goes to extra lengths to make sure potential nominees can pass Senate scrutiny, which has increased after several Cabinet choices withdrew from consideration for revelations about unpaid taxes and other matters.
   Any nomination for commissioner will be made by President Obama after receiving the DHS secretary’s recommendation.
   Bersin, 62, served during the Clinton administration as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California for almost five years and as the Justice Department’s first border czar responsible for coordinating federal law enforcement along the Mexican border.
   From July 2005 to December 2006, Bersin was California’s secretary of education. Before joining Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration, he spent seven years as school superintendent for San Diego.
   Bersin had a stormy tenure as school superintendent marked by constant battles with teachers unions, parents and school board members over his major reorganization of the school district, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune and other newspaper accounts. His reform initiative to improve literacy and math skills played to mixed reviews and academic results.
   Bersin is a graduate of Harvard and a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, where he befriended Bill Clinton. He earned his law degree from Yale. ‘ Eric Kulisch