Mark Morgan joined The Heritage Foundation as a Visiting Fellow in February 2021 after serving as Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Trump administration.

Morgan brings 30 years of law enforcement experience to Heritage. In his role as a Visiting Fellow, he works on border, immigration, and public safety policies as well as issues related to asylum and China.

Prior to joining Heritage, he oversaw 60,000 employees at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, managed a budget of over $13 billion, and ensured the effective operations of CBP’s mission to protect national security while promoting economic prosperity. 

Morgan directed CBP’s three core missions: counterterrorism, border security, and trade enforcement, while facilitating $4 trillion in trade and facilitating travel of over 410 million people through ports of entry. He oversaw the largest law enforcement agency and the second-largest revenue-collecting source in the federal government.

Prior to his CBP service, Morgan served as Chief of U.S. Border Patrol in the Obama administration and was Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Morgan had a 20-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He joined the FBI in 1996 as a special agent assigned to the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. In that capacity, he was a member of the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force, the Crisis Response Squad, and the Special Weapons and Tactics Team. 

In 2002, Morgan became a Supervisory Special Agent and served as a Crisis Management Coordinator in the Crisis Management Unit in the Critical Incident Response Group. 

He returned to Los Angeles in 2005, where he supervised an FBI-led Hispanic Gang Task Force that focused on the emerging presence of two organized and violent transnational gangs in Southern California: Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and 18th Street. While in Los Angeles, he also supervised the Critical Incident Response Squad. 

In 2007, Morgan was selected to serve as the Assistant Section Chief of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime Branch, where he managed the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Units and the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. In 2008, he became the FBI’s deputy on-scene commander in Baghdad, Iraq, where he was responsible for all FBI personnel deployed to Iraq as part of the Counterterrorism Division. 

The following year, he was assigned to the New Haven Field Office as the assistant special agent in charge with responsibilities for the Criminal, Critical Incident Response, Surveillance, and Aviation programs. In 2010, Morgan was named the section chief of the Strategic Information and Operations Center, Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG). 

He was promoted in 2011 to special agent in charge of the El Paso Division. 

Following that assignment, he served as the Deputy Assistant Director for the FBI’s Inspection Division. And from 2014-16, aside from his temporary detail to CBP, Morgan was Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s Academy in Quantico, Virginia. 

Morgan was an active-duty member and reservist in the U.S. Marine Corps. 

Before joining the FBI, he served as a Deputy Sheriff in Platte County, Missouri, and as an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. 

He has a bachelor of science degree in Engineering from Central Missouri State University and a juris doctorate degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.