House chair blasts Homeland Security for refusing to brief on border merger

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., charged Thursday that the Homeland Security Department has refused to brief the panel on a border security initiative that merges personnel from three federal agencies to create a single team of customs and border protection officers.

Goodlatte said the agency's behavior has resulted in concern that the border plans might be "insufficient to protect American agriculture against the unintentional introduction of plant and animal pests and disease."

Goodlatte's statement at a hearing by the House Homeland Security Infrastructure and Border Security Subcommittee reflected a growing concern on Capitol Hill and among farm groups about the Homeland Security Department's "One Face at the Border" initiative.

They worry the plan to merge the staffs of the U.S. Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service into one organization could lead to a loss of agricultural expertise and reduce the quality of border inspections of agricultural products.

The Homeland Security Department has announced on its Web site that all 18,000 border officers will be able to perform all functions, although the department will maintain "agriculture specialists" at ports of entry with large volumes of cargo importation.

The department also has said Customs and INS officers will receive additional training to perform the agriculture inspections.

But California Farm Bureau President Bill Pauli testified Thursday that APHIS personnel were hired with agriculture-related degrees and received additional specialized training from the agency.

Goodlatte, a member of the Homeland Security subcommittee, said agency officials have told House Agriculture Committee staff they would not have time Thursday to brief the Agriculture committee, either before or during Bureau of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner's appearance on Capitol Hill.

Goodlatte also said he was disappointed Bonner's testimony included only 56 words on agriculture. Bonner replied that the border agency would continue to keep agriculture specialists on staff. "We will have a number of agriculture specialists that is at least equal to the number of [agriculture inspectors] at ports of entry," he said. New CBP inspectors will receive 90 hours of training on agriculture inspection, he said. Bonner also said that more than half of all U.S. ports of entry currently have no agriculture inspectors on duty.

In his testimony, Bonner stressed the value of creating a single team of customs and border protection officers and the elimination of "disparities" in pay and overtime among the three former agencies.

Bonner also brought along a CBP officer who paraded before the subcommittee to display the new directorate uniform. Bonner later promised to cooperate with Goodlatte.

Also Thursday, AFL-CIO and National Treasury Employees Union representatives testified they were worried the department's planned single training program for all officers would not be adequate.