Customs Service Gets New Chief

DAILY BRIEFING

Customs Service Gets New Chief

The Treasury Department's undersecretary for enforcement is stepping down to take the top post at the U.S. Customs Service, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Raymond W. Kelly, an ex-Marine and former New York police commissioner, said he accepted the lower-ranking post because he "just wanted to get back into an operational mode."

"Customs is a great agency with an important mission," he said.

Kelly, however, did acknowledge that the Customs Service is experiencing some serious problems.

At a House hearing last fall, agency officials admitted that Customs offices on the West coast are not receiving resources proportional to the threats facing the area.

Robert S. Trotter, Customs' assistant commissioner for field operations, told members of the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology that the agency has historically allotted more resources to the east coast, and has been slow to reassign investigators to "new frontiers of criminal activity."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. voiced her concern about the problem in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday. Feinstein said she was surprised by an article in the Times reporting that the amount of cocaine seized at commercial ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border plummeted 84 percent in 1997.

Kelly said Thursday, "We're on the way to addressing some of the problems, and I'm excited about joining the agency."

Kelly will replace Samuel H. Banks, who has been acting commissioner since October, when George Weise resigned.

Feinstein said she was "heartened" by Kelly's appointment, calling him a "straight shooter" with an exemplary background.