Brandon Tucker

Director, Air and Marine Operations San Diego Air and Marine Branch
U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Brandon Tucker is the Director, Air and Marine Operations, San Diego Air and Marine Branch, Air and Marine Operations (AMO), U.S. Customs and Border Protection. AMO’s mission is to safeguard our nation by anticipating and confronting security threats through our aviation and maritime law enforcement expertise, innovative capabilities, and partnerships at the border and beyond. AMO has approximately 1,800 federal agents and mission support personnel, 240 aircraft, and 300 marine vessels operating throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We conduct our mission in the air and maritime environments within the nation’s interior, at and beyond the border.

Director Tucker is responsible for the daily execution of the San Diego Air and Marine Branch enforcement strategy and provides operational oversight for the aviation and maritime missions.

Director Tucker has 32 years of combined military and federal law enforcement experience. He began his federal service in 1992 as a U.S. Navy submarine mechanic and scuba diver aboard the USS Pintado in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He earned a commission through the Seaman to Admiral Program in 1998 and flew the F/A-18 Hornet with VFA-27 in Atsugi, Japan. In 2006, he transferred to the Navy Reserve and served as a MQ-9 Evaluator Pilot, Operations Officer, Officer in Charge, and Executive Officer, retiring in 2017.

In January 2010, he joined AMO as an Air Interdiction Agent in Sierra Vista, Arizona, transferring a year later to Cocoa Beach, Florida. He was the technical lead in the Operational Test and Evaluation of the MQ-9 Maritime Variant, and later deployed this advanced system to the Dominican Republic and El Salvador as lead pilot and Officer in Charge. He served as the MQ-9 Standardization Instructor, Command Duty Officer, and Acting Supervisory Air Interdiction Agent. In 2014, he transferred to AMO Headquarters, serving as the Mongoose program manager, technical advisor for Minotaur mission system development, and subject matter expert to the Federal Aviation Administration for unmanned aircraft system integration into the National Airspace System. Mr. Tucker transferred to Joint Interagency Task Force South as the Deputy Director of Operations in 2017, then San Diego as the Director of Air and Marine Operations in 2020. Under his leadership, San Diego Air and Marine Branch earned the AMO 2022 Unit of the Year Award. Director Tucker has attained 4,400 flight hours across dozens of aircraft types from 1920’s biplanes, to fighter attack aircraft, to helicopters, to unmanned aircraft.

Director Tucker has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of San Diego and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Marine Corps War College. He earned a Joint Civilian Service Commendation Medal, a Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, three Navy Achievement Medals, and a dozen other unit and personal awards.