Historians are still not certain which side fired “the shot heard round the world,” but that single gunshot started the American Revolution. The rest is history.

On September 11, 2001, another shot was heard round the world as terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia. It was only the minuteman-like thinking of passengers aboard a fourth plane that defeated the terrorists, sending the plane crashing into a field in western Pennsylvania instead of its intended target in the nation’s capital.

Photo Credit: Gerald Nino

At a CBP badge ceremony held in San Ysidro, Calif., Commissioner Robert C. Bonner holds up the new DHS CBP badge to be worn by all CBP Officers, Agriculture Specialists, and Border Patrol Agents.

Despite the obvious differences between these two events, a peculiar yet unequivocal parallel unites them: they altered the course of world history in profound, probably eternal ways. The American Revolution started a lonely democratic experiment in a world of monarchies. Yet within a century, most of the western world had established some form of democracy, a form of government Winston Churchill once described as the worst — except for all the others that have been tried.

Since that first day in April 1775, democracy became a form of government about which wars have been fought all over the globe to establish or preserve.

Democracy met its ultimate test on September 11, 2001, when a small band of fanatics inspired by despotic notions of power and revenge sought to bring it to its knees. It is that minuteman-like spirit and strength of character that, in the words of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner, “... maintains extra vigilance in carrying out duties during periods of heightened alert ... because we are responsible for the security of our nation's borders. No agency has a more important role in preventing a terrorist attack than U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”

CBP Officer badge CBP Agriculture Specialist badge CBP Border Patrol Agent badge

A unified frontline

CBP’s once-fragmented elements—inspectors and Border Patrol agents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, agriculture inspectors from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the U.S. Customs Service—formally united as U.S. Customs and Border Protection on March 1, 2003. But the cohesion, the demonstrated willingness to work together—indeed, the actual working together—started even before that.

August 6, 2004, marked the official, successful unification of the four inspectional and law enforcement services that before September 11 had belonged to three separate departments of government. CBP officers, agriculture specialists, and Border Patrol agents received their official CBP badges, which identify them literally and symbolically as “One Face at the Border.” One Face at the Border describes both our corps and our esprit de corps, but more important, it’s a commitment that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge made to America to protect its entire perimeter—at ports of entry and all the borders in between—against the incursion of terrorists and terrorist weapons.

Moving out, battle-ready, receiving cross-trained in each other’s disciplines and integrated to forge a single identity, this new, unified corps of officers is America’s frontline in the war on terrorism, controlling and managing the nation’s border functions to defend against terrorism while also expediting international travel and trade.

Photo Credit: Charles Csavossy

Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy along with CBP Deputy Commissioner Deborah J. Spero administer the oath of office to CBP Officers and Agriculture Specialists at a badge event held in Newark, N.J.

Most of CBP’s rank and file, no matter which agency they had come from, would probably have said of the reorganization something like Commissioner Bonner said in his testimony before the 9/11 Commission: that they knew within hours of the 9/11 attacks that protecting our borders had become a national security issue, that their chosen border professions would likely make them part of something much larger, and that wherever it led, the rest, to paraphrase Albert Einstein, would be mere detail.

Discrete milestones led up to the historic swearing-in on August 6th. Some of the more noteworthy included providing the latest training in counter-terrorism techniques and extensive unified-primary cross-training to maintain traditional skills and learn new ones. They included the Unifying Best Practice Recognition Initiative, in which field personnel learned from each other by sharing, via the agency-wide intranet, their own local resources, procedures, and technologies—part of the “working smarter not harder” concept. Other milestones were the design and acquisition of new uniforms for CBP officers and agriculture specialists; and finally, tying it all together, the July 25, 2004, implementation of the Customs Officer Pay Reform Act (COPRA). COPRA may have been the single-most important administrative tool in creating CBP’s unified frontline.

Photo Credit: Mark Vyrros

Assistant Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern, Office of Field Operations, along with Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar give remarks during the CBP badge ceremony held in Detroit, Mich.

When CBP came together, it inherited three different overtime compensation systems: each of the immigration, customs, and agriculture inspectors who now made up CBP had made the transition under one of three unique pay systems. These different systems created inconsistencies in how CBP’s frontline officers’ work hours were scheduled and how they were paid, not to mention the huge administrative headache of sorting it all out to create a level playing field. In order to implement “one face at the border,” a single overtime system was needed so that officers who performed the same functions at the ports of entry would be paid—so that they could predict and expect—the same overtime and premium pay under the same computational rules.

So it is fitting that presentation of the first-ever official CBP badges—“shields,” as they are so aptly called in law enforcement circles—follows COPRA’s implementation by less than two weeks, because COPRA has been an integral part, as well as the culmination of, 17 months of tireless efforts to create a unified frontline—one face at the border.

"The Customs and Border Protection badges you see today are badges of honor in the war on terrorism. In the weeks to follow, every single CBP officer, CBP agriculture specialist, and CBP Border Patrol agent will be issued a new badge under which they will carry out their mission as one unified force protecting America’s borders.” — CBP Commissioner Robert C. Bonner

And so, as Paul Revere’s ride marked a historic beginning, the 9/11 attacks did as well. Almost 230 years of free, open-minded democracy allowed our border-enforcement officers, our “minutemen,” to occupy themselves with the tasks befitting a strong, free economy—primarily the facilitation of travel and trade—but 9/11 was a wake-up call the likes of which we intend never to happen again. We now have One Face at the Border that will let us know well in advance if “al Qaeda is coming, al Qaeda is coming,” and CBP made it official on August 6, 2004.

As Commissioner Bonner said at the ceremony, “As One Face at the Border, we are building on strong traditions, but we are also forging a new tradition, one of total professionalism and excellence ... and the Oath of Office and these new badges bear witness to the dedication of U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees to protect our borders against the terrorist threat.” LW

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Badge presentations held across the country On August 6, 2004, three ceremonies were held at different geographic locations to present the new CBP law enforcement badges. These badges, carrying the new, unified insignia of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are the first Department of Homeland Security shields to be presented to any of the law enforcement agencies that comprise DHS. In Newark, N.J., Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy and CBP Acting Deputy Commissioner Deborah Spero presented badges to 40 members of the frontline corps of CBP officers and CBP agriculture specialists. In Detroit, Mich., Assistant Commissioner of Field Operations Jayson Ahern and Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar presented 60 badges to the frontline corps of CBP officers, CBP agriculture specialists, and CBP Border Patrol agents. And in San Ysidro, Calif., CBP Commissioner Robert C. Bonner presided over the third ceremony, where 60 badges were presented to officers, agriculture specialists and Border Patrol agents. Additional events were held the week of August 9 in Blaine, Wash.; Houston, Tex.; Miami, Fla.; and Atlanta, Ga. Officers in Tucson, Ariz., received their badges in a ceremony held on August 27. In coming months, as part of the roll-out of new badges, all members of the CBP frontline officer corps – more than 30,000 strong – will receive new badges. These new CBP badges are the visible, unifying symbol of the entire CBP frontline workforce, representing our commitment to preserve and protect our nation and the values we hold dear. They symbolize the responsibility of all CBP employees to safeguard our borders against the very real threat of terrorism. The new badge is the shield that announces to everyone who crosses our border that we are One Face at the Border.