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Washington, D.C.—The unwavering refusal of the administration to guarantee basic civil service protections for employees is not helping prepare federal workers to move to a new Department of Homeland Security, said National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley.

Responding to the findings of recent focus groups involving federal employees to be included in the new department, Kelley said a critical lack of information about personnel rules has fueled employees’ concerns.

“These focus groups raised a number of questions and concerns that mirror what NTEU has been saying all along,” said Kelley. “Namely, how will this new department function and what role will employees play? Employees who have the needed information and feel valued don’t ask these types of questions. The success of the new department will hinge on providing answers to these practical questions.”

Conducted by the Hart-Teeter polling group for the Partnership for Public Service, the focus groups identified a range of issues that must be addressed, and indicated that the political nature of the debate, which has included unfounded and untrue accusations about federal employees and their unions, is hurting the morale of those workers who are successfully protecting our nation’s borders.

“As the administration and its allies in the Senate hurl inaccurate accusations regarding the willingness and ability of federal workers, including those in the Customs Service, to take whatever measures are necessary to protect our country, the picture we are left with is that border security is not working,” Kelley said. “This simply is not true.”

Well before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Customs inspectors and canine enforcement officers worked every day—on the front lines—to interdict illegal drugs and other illegal material coming into the country, while facilitating billions of dollars in trade and tourism Since Sept. 11, they successfully have continued to do the same work under extraordinary pressure.

As an example, the union leader pointed to actions taken by Customs inspectors, both before and after the Sept. 11 attacks, to thwart suspected terrorist activities.

In 1999, a Customs inspector in Port Angeles, Wash., intercepted a man attempting to smuggle bomb-making equipment into the U.S. He was convicted for his role in a plan to attack the Los Angeles International Airport. More recently, a Customs inspector in Detroit intercepted a man carrying millions of dollars in cashier checks allegedly linked to funding terrorist activities.

Kelley urged the administration to pay attention to the concerns of front-line employees and take note of the continuing uncertainty of federal workers regarding their basic rights and protections in a new department.

“There is tremendous value in providing these basic civil service protections. This helps provide the answers to the practical questions and concerns being raised by employees that will be moving into the new department,” said Kelley.

NTEU represents nearly 12,000 employees of the U.S. Customs Service, who are among the 170,000 federal workers from some 22 agencies and departments who would be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.