Border Patrol wins control of Homeland Security aircraft

Under an evolving plan to streamline the management of aviation assets within Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection bureau, Border Patrol sector chiefs along the land borders with Mexico and Canada will assume tactical control of aircraft in their sectors.

CBP Commissioner Robert Bonner announced the changes earlier this week at a conference of Border Patrol sector chiefs and Air and Marine Office field directors in Riverside, Calif. Most field directors will now report to Border Patrol sector chiefs.

The move is intended to enhance border security by putting more aviation assets along the borders, and will effectively give the Border Patrol operational control over nearly all of CBP's helicopters and fixed-wing planes, more than 250 aircraft and 500 pilots-"the largest law enforcement air force in the world," Bonner wrote in a message to employees Wednesday.

There are 20 Border Patrol sectors, including the Ramey Sector, which covers Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The other 19 sectors cover the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. It's not yet clear if Air and Marine Office assets will be dedicated to the Caribbean.

Last month Bonner announced the merger of Border Patrol and AMO aviation assets into a unified structure, but he left open the question of how those assets would be controlled. AMO, formerly part of the U.S. Customs Service before it was rolled into the Homeland Security Department in 2003, was created to interdict drug smuggling in the Caribbean and across the Southwest border.

Some AMO officials question the decision. AMO pilots have provided aviation support to Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau in the past. ICE and CBP have had a troubled relationship since the department's inception, and the extent to which AMO will continue to support ICE missions is not clear, especially if those missions compete with Border Patrol missions.

By putting aviation assets under the control of individual Border Patrol sector chiefs, Homeland Security is limiting the use of a national law enforcement air force that could be employed more effectively in broader security missions, says one AMO official who asked to not be identified.

"This is basically handing these assets to the Border Patrol sector chiefs. Instead of a national homeland security aviation force, this will become a local Border Patrol force," the official says.

Effective Oct. 1, all pilot positions will convert to a new occupational designation, CBP Air Interdiction Agent, Bonner said. A new personnel series, GS-1881, will standardize pilot personnel management across CBP and reflect the pilots' unique role in federal law enforcement. Pilots will receive law enforcement officer retirement benefits.

"This is not a bad thing for pilots," said Gary Bracken, an AMO spokesman. "This gives everyone the same overtime pay benefits and the same training opportunities."