DHS Budget Fight Taking Toll on CBP Front Line Morale, Says Kerlikowske

The uncertainty over the Department of Homeland Security’s budget is playing havoc with CBP planning and its employees’ morale, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske in opening remarks at the Feb. 11 meeting of the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations. Although front line staff would avoid a furlough if no appropriations legislation is signed into law by Feb. 28, the agency’s back office staff won’t be coming to work, including employees engaged in training and hiring new CBP officers, said Kerlikowske. For CBP employees that avoid furloughs and work unpaid, “those lingering effects of a shutdown on employee morale are extremely significant,” he said. “I don’t think the mortgage company or the hospitals or the doctors or anybody else are too concerned that you’ll be paid later if you just wait.”

Beyond the human toll on morale, the impending budget lapse is also making planning and negotiating new contracts, including for upgrades to surveillance systems and maintenance, “unbelievably” difficult, said Kerlikowske. “I can’t understand why the private sector would not want to sign a contract with an organization whose budget would expire on Feb. 27,“ he cracked. “Being in this back and forth is very difficult.” DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and other administration officials have “had this opportunity to weigh in multiple times about the importance of having a firm budget,” said Kerlikowske. “We’ll have to see what happens.”