| Transition Management Office (TMO) Established
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You will have new opportunities as part of a new agency and a new department with an extraordinarily important mission. It is the dawn of a new era, where we can and will provide better protection for our nation and our people.
- CBP Commissioner Robert Bonner
On March 1, 2003, the inspection functions of the former Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and the Agriculture and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), along with the U.S. Border Patrol, were transferred to provide a strong and unified border agency - Customs and Border Protection (CBP), under the Department of Homeland Security. The purpose of the transfer was to integrate border security and inspection functions to enhance efficiencies and create greater accountability in one seamless border service. The primary mission of the new organization is to ensure the safety and security of our homeland.
Recognizing this sizable undertaking, Commissioner Bonner, on March 3, 2003, established the Transition Management Office (TMO). The TMO is comprised of representatives from the former organizations that transferred into CBP. The knowledge and experience they possess will contribute to bringing together the skills, talents and best practices of each. As the TMO conducts its work, there will be opportunities for field representation, as well as opportunities for employee input.
The charter of the TMO is to design the future CBP organization. Some of its work will involve:- identifying the broad range of issues that are critical to the success of the organization;
- providing information and clarity on operational and administrative issues as decisions are made;
- assuring that actions taken to build the new organization are fair and support the goal of unifying our merging workforces;
- opening communication and dialogue (with employees, unions, the trade, and other stakeholders); and
- building on traditions of honor, courage, and service to country, integrity and professionalism.
The TMO is dedicated to building a strong organizational structure that will support CBP's critical mission of protecting America.
There's no doubt: We will have to challenge ourselves as we begin to integrate and mobilize the Department of Homeland Security, but I have every confidence we'll answer this challenge in ways that will yield better results and better methods to secure the protection of this country.
-Secretary Tom Ridge, Department of Homeland Security
| For more information on the new interim organizational structure of CBP, access the CustomsNet Web site (http://cnet), click on Homeland Security Transition and then on Organization Structure. |
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