New agreement intended to foster more cooperation on customs corruption probes

This just in: The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have worked out an agreement aimed at fostering more teamwork in corruption probes.

Under a newly signed memorandum of understanding, CBP internal affairs investigators will be detailed to work with the inspector general’s office on investigations of customs employees. The arrangement will give the IG more resources, while Customs and Border Patrol managers will use the information gleaned by its investigators for “immediate oversight” of  the employees under scrutiny, according to a Monday news release from the inspector general’s office.

Turf tensions between the two agencies within the Homeland Security Department have been a source of concern on Capitol Hill, leading Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., to touch on the subject in  a June hearing. A Pryor spokeswoman could not be reached for comment on the new agreement this afternoon.  A decision on whether to release the actual memorandum has not yet been made, a IG spokeswoman said.