BY TOBY GOOLEY, SENIOR EDITOR
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A thoughtleaders
WHEN R. GIL KERLIKOWSKE WAS NOMinated as commissioner of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) in 2014, international
traders were concerned that he might give short
shrift to trade facilitation and slow the wheels of
commerce by focusing mainly on CBP’s other
key responsibility, law enforcement and security.
Those worries weren’t surprising; after all, he had
spent four decades in law enforcement, including
stints as chief of police in Seattle and police commissioner of Buffalo, N. Y. At the federal level, the
U.S. Army veteran had served as deputy director for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office
of Community Oriented Policing Services and
R. Gil Kerlikowske spent four decades in law enforcement. As head of U.S. Customs
and Border Protection, he’s added trade compliance and facilitation to his portfolio
and has made building stronger relationships with the trade community a priority.
INTERVIEW WITH R. GIL KERLIKOWSKE
Partner-in-Chief
