Join HSToday and Kalyna White as she sits down with Diane J. Sabatino, the Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations (OFO), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As the senior official for OFO, Mrs. Sabatino leads more than 31,000 employees and oversees an annual operating budget of $6.5 billion. In a typical year, Mrs. Sabatino oversees the facilitation of legitimate travel for more than 410 million travelers in the air, land, and maritime environments.
In the cargo environment, she oversees the review of more than 29 million cargo containers to identify high-risk shipments, including processing more than 5.2 million containers. Mrs. Sabatino most recently served as the Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner (DEAC) of OFO. Among her notable achievements as DEAC includes her role in leading CBP’s National Incident Command for Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), a historic success for CBP. As part of OAW, CBP upheld the United States’ safety and security while providing humanitarian relief for more than 84,000 people fleeing Afghanistan.
She has also led development of the OFO strategy, incorporating field priorities and realigning key OFO processes to meet Agency mission goals. Mrs. Sabatino previously served as the Director, Field Operations (DFO) for the Miami and Tampa Field Office, one of CBP’s largest and most complex operations. As the DFO, she oversaw all inspectional operations throughout the State of Florida, encompassing 19 airports and 12 seaports, including the top 3 cruise ship ports in the world. She also served as the Lead Field Coordinator for Incident Response, charged with managing the response to multiple hurricanes for all CBP resources compromising FEMA Region IV.
