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  3. Leadership & Organization
  4. James McCament, Acting Chief Operating Officer

James McCament, Acting Chief Operating Officer

James McCament assumed the role of the Acting Chief Operating Officer for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on October 12, 2023. In this role, Mr. McCament ensures the frontline is equipped with the personnel, tools, and vital information needed, improving the agency’s capacity to adapt and respond to an ever-changing environment. Mr. McCament works with the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner to identify and address the operational requirements of the agency’s more than 60,000 employees and to provide strategic direction and oversight of enterprise services and operational support components. As a key CBP executive, Mr. McCament serves as a principal representative and consultant for CBP at interagency and international meetings and leads efforts to partner with industry leaders and other stakeholders to help drive innovation across the agency.

Mr. McCament is a founding civil service member of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and has served in multiple leadership roles since DHS was founded in March 2003. Prior to joining CBP, Mr. McCament was appointed as the first Deputy Under Secretary of the Department’s Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans (PLCY). In that civil service position, he supported DHS-wide policy development, implementation, and strategic planning through oversight of employees working within five Assistant Secretary-led PLCY offices: Border Security and Immigration; Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Risk, and Resilience; Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention; International Affairs; and Trade and Economic Security.

Mr. McCament previously served from March 2017 to March 2018 as the Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), where he was responsible for overseeing agency operations, over $4 billion budget, more than 200 offices and 19,000 employees. Prior to serving as USCIS Deputy Director, he served from 2015 to 2017 as Deputy Associate Director for USCIS Service Center Operations, overseeing the work of the five USCIS service centers in their processing of more than 4 million applications received annually.

Mr. McCament also previously served in the Office of the USCIS Director in the roles of acting Chief of Staff and acting Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief of the USCIS Office of Legislative Affairs; as the DHS field office director in Havana, Cuba; as Senior Counselor to the Director of USCIS; as Special Advisor to DHS Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, and as an attorney and founding member of the DHS Office of General Counsel. Prior to joining DHS, he served in the Department of Treasury’s Office of the General Counsel. Mr. McCament also served as a law clerk to then Chief Judge William C. Lee of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

Mr. McCament received his Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame Law School and his bachelor’s degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene College. A Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executive Fellow and Federal Executive Institute graduate, Mr. McCament is bar licensed in Ohio and is an adjunct professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.

Last Modified: Nov 06, 2023