Randy Beardsworth

nything that happens in the field of border security falls in my purview," says Randy Beardsworth, director of operations for the Homeland Security Department's Border and Transportation Security Directorate. His office coordinates the operations of agencies that secure U.S. ports of entry, including the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Transportation Security Administration.

In December 2003, when overseas flights to the United States were canceled for security reasons, it was Beardsworth's office that coordinated the various agencies involved. "This job is the focal point-where we look at operations across the agencies," says Beardsworth, 51. "We see how we can do things differently-for example, when it is important that CBP talks to TSA. We're trying to bring them together instead of having them work on parallel or divergent tracks."

He says that in December, CBP and TSA for the first time started joint inspections at key airports.

As Border and Transportation Security's operations chief, Beardsworth plays a key role in tightening aviation security. His office is working to expand checks of air cargo and to establish measures to secure overflights-planes that fly over, but do not land in, the United States. A TSA directive now requires planes overflying the United States-about 700 a day-to provide the names of their flight crews. It also requires cargo carriers to inspect a certain percentage of their freight.

Prior to joining DHS, Beardsworth was director for strategic planning, budget, and workforce development for the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Detention and Removal Program. Before that he was director of the International Security Program at Georgetown University's Carib-bean Project. He also served as director of defense policy for the National Security Council. Beardsworth's role as senior adviser to Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security, places him where he feels most comfortable-behind the scenes.

Beardsworth's experience with high-level policy and interagency coordination at the National Security Council, combined with his years of field work, has given him a broad perspective for his current job. "He does a great job leaning on people and getting things done," says C. Stewart Verdery Jr., assistant secretary for policy and planning at BTS. "He's a stickler for detail, and more interested in performance than in turf."

A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Beardsworth has a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a master's in business administration from the University of Colorado.