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Alan Bersin

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Alan Bersin
Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection
In office
March 27, 2010 – December 31, 2011
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byJayson Ahern (acting)
Succeeded byDavid V. Aguilar (acting)
Personal details
Born (1946-10-15) October 15, 1946 (age 78)
New York City, New York, U.S.
SpouseLisa Foster
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Balliol College, Oxford
Yale University (JD)

Alan D. Bersin (born October 15, 1946) served as the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Commissioner Bersin was appointed by President Barack Obama on March 27, 2010 as a recess appointment. As Commissioner, Mr. Bersin oversaw the operations of CBP’s 57,000-employee work force and managed an operating budget of more than $11 billion. Bersin formerly served as the Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs, informally known as the "Border Czar." Bersin later served as Assistant Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the Department of Homeland Security, a position he assumed on January 3, 2012 and held until January 2017.[1]

Bersin is a former Secretary of Education for California, as well as a former superintendent of San Diego City Schools, past federal Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) and United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, and former Attorney General’s Southwest Border Representative. He previously served as the chair of the executive committee of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.[2]

Early life

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Bersin was born in 1946 to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bersin in Brooklyn, New York, and is Jewish.[3][4] He attended public schools and Hebrew school in New York City. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, where he was a valedictorian.[4] In his senior year at the high school, he wrote an essay that won first place in the High School Contest on the United Nations, sponsored by the American Association for the United Nations, won a citation from the Mayor’s Committee on Scholastic Achievement, and was the co-editor of Vanguard, the student newspaper.[5]

He received an A.B. in American Government from Harvard College, where he won the Detur Prize for distinguished application to studies, and the James Bryant Conant Award for the best essay in Natural Science.[4] He then attended Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (receiving a maximum annual stipend of $2,760).[4] In 1974, he obtained a J.D. degree from Yale Law School.

Career

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From 1995 to 1998, Bersin served as the Attorney General’s Southwest Border Representative, coordinating law enforcement on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

His appointment in 1998 as Superintendent of Public Education in San Diego City Schools, a position he held through 2005, put him in control of the eighth-largest urban school district in the U.S. In 2005, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him as California's Education Secretary.[6]

In 2007, the nonprofit electronic journalism outlet voiceofsandiego.org[7] reported that Bersin was considering a run for City Attorney of San Diego.[8]

On April 15, 2009, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the appointment of Bersin as DHS Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs. In the press release announcing his appointment, Secretary Napolitano said, "Alan brings years of vital experience working with local, state and international partners to help us meet the challenges we face at our borders. He will lead the effort to make our borders safe while working to promote commerce and trade."[9]

Bersin's recess appointment in 2010 was effective only until the end of the next session of Congress. Through the rest of 2010 and 2011, Republicans in the Senate refused to hold a confirmation hearing on the nomination, so in December 2011 he was forced to step down.[10]

After leaving government service, Bersin became an advisor at the international law firm Covington & Burling.[11]

Philanthropy

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In 2014, Bersin announced the Mildred and Arthur Bersin Scholarship, to be awarded to students from Gompers Preparatory Academy, Abraham Lincoln High School, and the Preuss School who are accepted into Harvard University.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Alan Bersin". 27 June 2016.
  2. ^ San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. "Board Members". Archived from the original on 9 February 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2007.
  3. ^ San Diego Jewish Journal (2003). "The hardest job in America?". Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d "B'klyn Rhodes Scholars Hope for New Ideas," Daily News.
  5. ^ "Seniors Reap Honors As Graduation Nears," Lincoln Log, June 1964.
  6. ^ John Marelius; Maureen Magee; Gordon Smith. "Bersin to be state education secretary". Archived from the original on 6 December 2006. Retrieved January 1, 2007.
  7. ^ "Voice of San Diego | Local News. Investigation. Analysis". Voice of San Diego. 2024-04-10. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  8. ^ "Bersin Considering a Run for City Attorney". Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
  9. ^ "DHS Press Release, April 15, 2009". 15 April 2009.
  10. ^ Brinkerhoff, Noel; David Wallechinsky (December 24, 2011). "Senate Republicans Block Confirmation of Head of Customs and Border Protection". AllGov. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
  11. ^ "Alan Bersin". Covington. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  12. ^ "Assistant Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the Department of Homeland Security Visits GPA," Gompers Prep.
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Political offices
Preceded by Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection
2010–2011 		Succeeded by
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