Message from Commissioner Bonner to All CBP Employees Death of Former Assistant Commissioner Bonni Tischler

I am deeply saddened to inform you of the death of former U.S. Customs Service Assistant Commissioner Bonni Tischler, who succumbed to cancer this morning. During her 30-year federal law enforcement career, Ms.

Tischler served her Nation with distinction, and she leaves an unparalleled legacy of dedication, innovation and achievement.

No other woman in federal law enforcement has ever achieved what Bonni Tischler accomplished during her long career. In 1971, she was one of the first women to become a United States Sky Marshall. In 1977, as one of the very first female special agents with the U.S. Customs Service, she worked undercover in the Miami-based "Operation Greenback," an innovative anti-money laundering program. Ms. Tischler became the first woman in the federal government to head a law enforcement field office when she took over as Special Agent in Charge in Tampa, Florida in 1987.

While in Tampa she oversaw the investigation into the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the largest money laundering investigation of its kind. She became the first female Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Investigations at Customs in 1997. During her tenure she had responsibility for the largest money-laundering probe in U.S. history, "Operation Casablanca," and "Operation Cheshire Cat," at the time the largest-ever international child pornography and exploitation case. In June of 2000, again as its first female Assistant Commissioner, she was named to head Customs Office of Field Operations, the largest segment of the U.S. Customs Service. In this position she oversaw border security, trade compliance, anti-smuggling policies and 13,000 Customs employees at more than 300 Ports of Entry.

Ms. Tischler delayed her retirement following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, staying on to address what needed to be done to keep trade and the economy moving, but provide the security at our border against the threat of terrorists and terrorist attacks. Indeed, in October 2001, she started what is now called U.S. Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center, which was originally referred to as the Office of Border Security. With that work underway, she retired from the U.S. Customs Service in June of 2002. She joined Pinkerton's, Inc., as Vice President of Global Transportation and Supply Chain Security.

The National Center for Women and Policing has honored her with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as a mentor to thousands of other women who followed her footsteps into law enforcement careers. Bonni Tischler will be remembered as a pioneering woman who not only broke the glass ceiling in federal law enforcement but shattered it forever.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection family and the entire federal law enforcement community mourn today for a truly remarkable and memorable pioneer.

I personally worked with Bonni Tischler as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and over many years. I will miss her courage and tenacity, as will we all. She was part of our family and we mourn her loss.

Robert C. Bonner

Commissioner