Border Security

W. Ralph Basham served as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the fifty-thousand employee agency which is the largest law enforcement organization in the United States and has responsibility for controlling the flow of people and things into the United States through all air, land and sea ports of entry, as well as securing the border with the Border Patrol and hundreds of manned and unmanned air assets.  Basham was previously at the head of three other operational components in what is now the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - as Director of both the United States Secret Service and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and as the first Chief of Staff leading the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration.

Ronald S. Colburn served in the U.S. Border Patrol for over thirty years, including as national Deputy Chief and as Chief of the Yuma Sector in Arizona, where he led the transformation of that Area of Operation from one the most violent with over 120,000 apprehensions per year, to less than 4,000. He also worked in the White House at the Homeland Security Council as the Director of Law Enforcement.

Vice Admiral D. Brian Peterman, USCG (Ret.) served for over 36 years in the United States Coast Guard, including as Commander of the Atlantic Area, where he had responsibility for Coast Guard operations on nearly half the globe. He also coordinated federal border security policy as Special Assistant to the President for Border and Transportation Security in the Homeland Security Council at the White House.

Al Martinez Fonts, Jr. was a banker in a border environment, served as President for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City, and was the Department of Homeland Security’s liaison to the private sector.

Jan Lesher served as Chief of Staff to Governor Janet Napolitano in Arizona during a time of unprecedented increase in federal resources on the U.S.-Mexico border, and later as Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama Administration.

Steve Atkiss served as Chief of Staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where he was responsible for coordinating the agency's interactions with the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, state and local governments and the press. Atkiss spearheaded the team which assessed CBP’s intelligence capabilities and recommended the reorganization into what is now the Office of Intelligence and Operations Coordination (OIOC). He previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Operations at the White House.

Thad Bingel was the Assistant Commissioner for Congressional Affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection and later served as Chief of Staff of the Agency.

William Houston has an extensive intelligence background and was the Director of the Office of Policy and Planning at U.S. Customs and Border Protection where he led the development of the CBP and DHS Northern Border Strategy and spearheaded the effort to restructure the border security agency’s intelligence capabilities on the border, leveraging best practices from law enforcement, DoD and the intelligence community.  He previously served at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), where he led the first combined ODNI, DOJ and DHS intelligence analysis effort focused on border security and before that as an Army intelligence officer.

Michael Braun has held multiple senior leadership positions in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), including his most recent role as the DEA Chief of Operations. While at the DEA, Mr. Braun forged strong relations with the Department of Defense and served on special assignment in Iraq as the Chief of Staff for the Interim Ministry of Interior, Coalition Provisional Authority where he assisted in the creation of the new Iraqi National Police Service and Customs and Border agencies.

Harold Douglas Wankel has held senior leadership positions in international law enforcement and security operations for nearly the last four decades, including most recently as Director of the Counter Narcotics Task Force (CNTF) at the United States Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. In this role, Mr. Wankel was responsible for the oversight, integration and coordination of U.S. Government counter drug efforts in Afghanistan including efforts to stem the flow of narcotics in and out of the country through its borders.  Earlier in his career, he served in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration where he helped oversee investigations around the world, including some of most significant international drug trafficking operations in history.

Dennis Lindsay served as the Executive Director of Air and Marine Operations at U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters, where he directed all national and international operations, developed operational requirements and provided strategic vision for program enhancements.

Peter McNall served as Director of Air Operations for the Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (UAS) program for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where he helped spearhead the deployment of the first sustained civilian use of a UAS platform in the border security and U.S. national security effort.