Join HSToday and Kalyna White as she sits down with Ryan Scudder, the Executive Assistant Commissioner of Enterprise Services at CBP. The CBP workforce is recognized as the most humanitarian law enforcement federal agency. EAC Scudder, in a groundbreaking effort, stood up a much-needed initiative to ensure that the CBP workforce, and their families, are cared for and able to continue their dedication, innovation, and perseverance of the CBP mission.
During the past 2 years, the men and women of CBP have worked tirelessly and made countless sacrifices and advancements in its efforts to secure our borders and identify those who wish to do us harm, facilitate travel and trade, stop the flow of illicit drugs and other contraband, combat forced labor in supply chains, and rescue and assist those in distress. This has more than put a toll on the frontline and mission support personnel and their families. EAC Scudder and his team sought ways to further invest in programs that benefit all CBP employees and enhanced training across the Agency this included, but is not limited to: Childcare Subsidy Program, Backup Care Program, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Core services, and the EAP Onsite Clinician Program that currently provides 32 onsite clinicians in 26 CBP operational locations. They developed and distributed a new suicide prevention train-the-trainer initiative attended by 306+ CBP chaplains, peer support members, veteran support members, and professional staff. This new cadre of instructors are required to provide in-person suicide prevention training to all CBP employees by the end of Calendar Year 2023. Additionally, they funded chaplain and peer support classes, delivered Resilience Skills and Training, deployed Traumatic Incidents and Events Response (TIER) teams in response to critical incidents, improved guidance, education, and information on other support services for CBP employees and their families, and delivered mental and medical health care services to CBP’s frontline veteran workforce stationed along the Southwest Border in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration. Additionally, they were able to hire specialized personnel, including field-based operational psychologists, who bring operationally relevant experience and expertise to augment field management to support the mental and physical wellbeing of its employees and their families.
To further meet the needs of CBP’s mission, he led CBP’s facility response to the rapidly evolving need for Southwest border infrastructure. Expertly guiding a $988M temporary processing facility program, shifting design, location, and capacity to meet operationally driven changes he expanded processing capacity in 3 locations by over 2,500 people to meet evolving operational needs. Congratulations to EAC Scudder for his leadership, commitment and focus on those on the front line and behind the front lines.
Learn more about a career at CBP here: https://www.cbp.gov/careers