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Washington, D.C.—A follow-up analysis by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of survey responses by agriculture specialists working at the nation’s border crossings underscores the argument by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) that efforts to consolidate multiple skills and experiences into a single front-line border security position simply isn’t working.

“NTEU has said all along that the misguided, and subsequently mismanaged, ‘One Face at the Border’ initiative of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is causing serious and unnecessary problems,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley, in the wake of the GAO report to the House Agriculture Committee. “Given the considerable loss of inspectional expertise,” she added, “CBP should immediately drop the ‘One Face’ program”

The agriculture specialists who responded to the GAO survey strongly indicated that the mission of protecting America’s crops and plants is severely comprised because of supervisors who do not understand the mission and a lack of training and resources. Overall, only six percent of those interviewed expressed satisfaction with their jobs while 29 percent believe that the agriculture mission under CBP is in decline.

Under ‘One Face,’ the agency has combined the work of three legacy agencies merged into it with the 2003 creation of the Department of Homeland Security, combining employees of the former U.S. Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Agriculture Department.

In a report to the Agriculture Committee earlier this year, GAO raised questions about increased vulnerability of the vital U.S. agriculture industry to foreign pests and diseases.

At that time, GAO—using a survey of 31 multiple-choice questions and two open-ended questions calling for narrative responses—reported on the concerns of agriculture specialists, who said they believed that agriculture’s safety mission had been compromised and that they were conducting fewer inspections and interceptions—with nearly two-thirds of respondents saying they believed CBP management did not respect their work.

Subsequently, the Agriculture Committee asked GAO to analyze the narrative answers. In response to a survey question about what agriculture specialists would like to see changed or improved with respect to their work, GAO said 29 percent of the narrative statements urged that great priority be given to the agriculture mission.

About the same number—29 percent—identified “problems with (the) CBP chain of command,” while 19 percent characterized training, in both the classroom and on-the-job, as “inadequate.” Seventeen percent applied that same description to their access to equipment and supplies.

“The agriculture mission within CBP is a serious and critical one for our nation,” President Kelley said. “It cannot get the attention and resources it needs under the ‘One Face’ program—a point that NTEU continues to press, both with CBP and members of Congress.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including some 15,000 in CBP.