Public Service Innovators -- Winona Varnon (MPA '01): Working on the INS Frontlines

The events of September 11 gave the words "safety" and "borders" greater significance than previously imagined. The new reality of the critical need to secure US points of entry and strengthen homeland security continues to influence how government agencies operate and strategize for the future. Winona Varnon (MPA '01), director of the Office of Security at the Immigration and Naturalization Service, works on the frontline of homeland defense.

Returning to the INS from the Kennedy School's mid-career degree program in June 2001, Varnon's readjustment period was cut short by the terrorist attacks. "I shifted into response mode immediately," she said. "One of the most satisfying aspects of working here is that the INS protects people. We're the first line of defense on U.S. borders."

Getting more INS agents into the field was a critical part of the nation's homeland security plan. Varnon streamlined the background investigation process involved in hiring new employees making it possible for the INS to get the right people in place as quickly as possible.

"Initially, the investigations took anywhere from nine months to a year," she said. "We couldn't afford that sort of timeframe." Varnon decreased the agency's average investigation time to 45 days.

Since September 11, Varnon and her team have focused on modernizing administrative systems-a necessity given the surge of new cases the INS will handle in 2002. In addition to stepping up security for the agency's buildings and 36,000 employees, Varnon is working with the FAA as well as federal, state, and local governments to design and implement new standards for immigration and border security.

Two years ago, Varnon employed a similar cross-organizational strategy to ensure the safety of Juan Miguel Gonzalez, father of Elian Gonzalez, following his arrival in the United States. The boy was at the center of a heated battle between his Miami relatives and his Cuban father that strained US-Cuban relations.

"Obviously, nothing could happen to this man while he was on U.S. soil or it would have been an international incident," Varnon observed. "Yet there was no law that specified a particular course of action."

Varnon's solution was to put together an extraordinary cooperative effort involving local government, federal agencies, and the military. "My role was to negotiate a team to protect him," she said. "Eventually we worked it out so that he stayed on a military installation with U.S. marshals doing a lot of the legwork, as well as some of our agents, backed up by local law enforcement. In a sense, we were creating something out of nothing."

Undoubtedly, Varnon's entrepreneurial tactics will serve her well as she confronts the new security challenges raised by the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

"The decisions I make range from deciding what type of ID our employees will wear to judging whether or not to close a port of entry after a bomb threat," she said. "The breadth of what I do makes this job very demanding, but there's a great deal of satisfaction in the results."

Are there others in the Kennedy School community that you think should be profiled for Innovations in Public Service? Please contact Miranda Daniloff at miranda_daniloff@harvard.edu