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Washington, D.C.—An influential member of Congress on homeland security matters today reiterated his strong support for a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel system that protects the rights of front-line employees and respects their expertise by listening to and acting on it.

“Front-line people have more information about how to keep our country safe,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) today told a group of some 50 local chapter leaders of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU)—each of whom represents employees of DHS’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Rep. Thompson, Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, addressed the NTEU local leaders at a luncheon at the close of a two-day lobbying effort by the union members from around the country seeking to raise awareness among members of Congress about issues impacting their workplaces, including the attack on their collective bargaining, due process and appeal rights in the new personnel system.

During meetings with Congress, the NTEU members also raised their serious concerns about CBP’s ‘One Face at the Border’ initiative, a program combining legacy Customs, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Agriculture inspectors into a single new position.

They emphasized that, as it is being implemented, the ‘One Face’ program is actually hurting border security by diluting the considerable expertise developed over time by inspectors and by giving them broadened responsibilities for which there is inadequate training.

Rep. Thompson has used his committee post to aggressively question DHS policies and practices, including its decision to award a $175 million contract to Northrop-Grumman Corp. to implement a new personnel system. A federal court has enjoined the agency from implementing the

system, having twice declared key parts of it illegal. “That money could have been used to improve your department” and help meet critical personnel, equipment and training needs, he said.

The Mississippi Democrat was sharply critical of DHS on a number of fronts.

For example, he characterized the personnel rules DHS is trying to impose on employees as a “personnel system dependent on who is your boss” rather than one based on civil service principles. The congressman added that DHS “is completely negligent in accountability,” noting the agency has missed some 125 congressionally-mandated deadlines to provide reports—and is only grudgingly willing to provide requested information, even to members of Congress. “DHS leaves a lot to be desired,” he said.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including about 14,000 in CBP.