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ATTORNEY GENERAL ASHCROFT APPLAUDS WHITE HOUSE NOMINEE

WASHINGTON, D.C. Attorney General John Ashcroft today applauded President Bush's announcement of his intention to nominate Benigno G. Reyna to be Director of the United States Marshals Service.

"Benigno Reyna will lead the U.S. Marshals with honor," Ashcroft said. "He has spent his life serving and protecting fellow citizens, and his expertise in law enforcement will ensure the organization will be held to a high standard. His duties are a crucial part of the Justice Department's responsibility to America."

Until May of 2001, Reyna served as Chief of Police at the Brownsville, Texas, Police Department. Previously, he held a variety of other posts at the Department, including Acting Chief, Commander of Professional Standards, Lieutenant and Sergeant, beginning at the Department as a cadet in 1976.

From 1995-2001, Reyna was also the Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Brownsville, a position from which he directed emergency management operations during weather- related and other disasters.

Since 1997 he has served the State of Texas on the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, and was tapped to be the Presiding Officer of the Commission in 2000. Since 1997 he has also assisted the United States Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Texas as a law enforcement advisor, offering solutions to law enforcement problems and helping develop a one-of-a-kind data sharing system to benefit area police agencies.

Through his participation in the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Counter drug Technology Assessment Center's (CTAC), Law Enforcement Technology Transfer Program, Reyna led the creation and implementation of a multi-law enforcement agency radio interoperability communications system.

He is an active member of the Brownsville community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Brownsville Boys and Girls Club, the Steering Committee of Brownsville Weed and Seed and the Brownsville Adult Literacy Council. He is also an instructor in criminal justice at the University of Texas-Brownsville.

He is an active member of the Brownsville Community, serving on the Brownsville Adult Literacy Council and as a past member of the Board of Directors of the Brownsville Boys and Girls Club. He also was an Instructor in Criminal Justice and a member of the Criminal Justice Institute Advisory Committee of the University of Texas at Brownsville.

He received his BS in Criminal Justice from the University of Texas-Pan American, further enhancing his law enforcement credentials by graduating from the FBI National Academy in 1991. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Association of Chiefs of Police, FBI National Academy Associates and the Texas Police Chiefs Association.

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