Tequila Talk with Alan Bersin |
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Balancing Security, Operability, and Neighborly Relations at the Border September 10, 2009 6:30 – 7:45 p.m. Institute of the Americas University of California, San Diego campus La Jolla, California  Alan Bersin was appointed Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano on April 15, 2009. He serves as the Secretary's lead representative on Border Affairs and Mexico, develops DHS strategy regarding security, immigration, narcotics, and trade matters affecting Mexico and coordinates the Secretary's security initiatives on the nation's borders. Mr. Bersin is not new to California or to San Diego. He served as Chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, appointed by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders as California’s Secretary of Education (July 2005-December 2006), as a member of the State Board of Education (until 2009); as Superintendent of Public Education in San Diego, the nation’s eighth largest urban school district (1998-2005), launching a major reorganization of the district to focus its resources strategically on instruction and to modernize its business infrastructure; and as a member and then Chairman of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (2000-2003). He was appointed by President Bill Clinton as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California. Mr. Bersin served as U.S. Attorney for nearly five years and as the Attorney General’s Southwest Border Representative responsible for coordinating federal law enforcement on the border from South Texas to Southern California. Mr. Bersin earned a degree in government from Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude. From 1969 to 1971, Mr. Bersin attended Balliol College at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1974, he received his J.D. degree from the Yale Law School. He is fluent in Spanish. |
