San Diego - Christopher D. Maston, a career federal law enforcement officer with more than 24 years experience managing the processing of international travelers and trade, was formally sworn into office this morning as U.S. Customs and Border Protections new port director at the busy San Ysidro and Otay Mesa passenger ports of entry.

Maston, 45, succeeds interim Port Director David J. Murphy, who has filled the position for the past six weeks while a replacement was found for long time Port Director Oscar Preciado. Preciado recently assumed a new role as a liaison to the U.S. Government Services Administration during the ports upcoming $577 million reconstruction project.

click for hi-res San Diego DFO Paul M. Morris administers Oath of Office to incoming San Ysidro Port Director Chris D. Maston.

Maston was formally posted to his new position during a well attended change of command ceremony at the San Ysidro facility on Wednesday morning. Family, law enforcement colleagues from local, state and federal agencies, and area dignitaries watched Maston recite the oath of office during the 45-minute ceremony inside a port building.

He is the second CBP executive in San Diego to participate in a formal change of command ceremony, following a similar ceremony in June for Paul M. Morris, CBPs Field Operations director in San Diego. CBP Field Operations recently adopted formal change of command ceremonies as one way to unify the workforce and highlight the agency mission.

Maston brings to the key San Diego position in-depth experience in overseeing large scale passenger and cargo processing programs. He most recently served more than two years as port director at the Miami international airport, managing more than 1,300 employees at the largest international operation in the U.S. for air cargo and the second largest for international traveler processing.

Mastons recent responsibilities overseeing international traveler inspections, trade enforcement and tactical enforcement operations will provide the tools he needs to manage the busy 24-lane port of San Ysidro and nearby 13-lane Otay Mesa border station where, on average, 63,000 vehicles and 134,000 travelers enter the U.S. each day, CBP DFO Morris said.

Maston served from 2004 to 2006 as the assistant director of border security at CBPs Miami Field Office. In this position, he oversaw border security operations for the Miami, Port Everglades, Key West and West Palm Beach ports of entry.

He began his federal career in 1985 as a Border Patrol agent in El Paso, Texas, later became a U.S. Customs Service inspector at the Calexico port of entry and served in progressively more responsible positions over the past two decades.

While mindful of the agencys important border security mission, Maston said he will continue to support operations that have proved successful for the field office while striking a working balance between facilitation of legitimate travelers and the need for strong enforcement.

The CBP San Diego Field Office manages the work of more than 1,800 front-line federal officers at border stations in San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Tecate, Calexico, and Andrade as well as the federal inspection stations at the San Diego seaport and international airports. The ports performed almost 66 million inspections of people, seized more than 145 tons of illegal narcotics and apprehended more than 42,000 immigration violators during the last fiscal year.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

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