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Washington, D.C. —Anyone who believes an additional 285 Customs Service personnel is sufficient for the agency to accomplish its heightened responsibility of securing the nation’s borders needs to spend some time at a border entry post, said National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) National President Colleen M. Kelley.

The union leader responded to the reported remarks of an unnamed Treasury Department spokesperson who told the media this week that the 2002 Treasury appropriations bill, which was recently signed into law and provided funding for an additional 285 Customs positions, was sufficient until the agency worked to determine the “right mix” between new technology and new manpower.

“Clearly, what is needed here is a good dose of reality,” said Kelley. “The view from behind a desk in the Treasury Department public relations shop in Washington is not the view shared by Customs inspectors, canine enforcement officers, import specialists and other Customs personnel who have been working 12 to 16 hour shifts. It is not the view shared by hundreds of Customs employees who have been shifted away from the southern border and from their families during the holiday season to compensate for inadequate staffing along the northern border.”

Kelley said the spokesperson was clearly unaware of the Resource Allocation Model (RAM) study done by Customs last year which put the agency’s need at more than 14,700 new hires “just to fulfill its basic mission for the future.”

“The 2002 Treasury appropriations bill’s 285 positions is no substitute for what everyone recognizes needs to be done to strengthen security at the nation’s borders,” said Kelley. “Congress approved and the president signed the Patriot Act, which authorized a tripling of the number of Customs personnel on the northern border. What is needed now is funding to turn this authorization of new positions into reality, and that work continues in the Congress.”

Kelley said she is hopeful that Congress and the president will act to fulfill the promise of the Patriot Act and the expectation of the American people of improved security along the nation’s borders.

The Senate is now considering homeland security funding as part of the 2002 defense spending bill. Kelley called on lawmakers and the administration to support funding for additional Customs inspectors on the nation’s northern border, in line with the intent of the Patriot Act, as well as for an increase in the number of Customs officers needed for cargo inspection at ports around the nation.