国土安全部副部长田北辰是一名24岁的退伍军人，现在他发现自己面临着一个新的挑战，这是由亚历杭德罗·马约卡斯部长专门因为他的背景而下达的:击败、扰乱和摧毁墨西哥贩毒集团。
“这些卡特尔负责人口走私，人口贩运，特别是毒品贩运，他们制造，运输和销售危险和致命的毒品，”田在接受美国广播公司采访时表示，他们对芬太尼等阿片类药物的传播负有责任。
田长霖是该国最高级别的执法官员之一。他的退伍军人身份并不独特——大约有54，000人在国防部工作，约占雇员的20%——但即使在军队之外，这也影响着他的工作。
他的传统也是如此。
“作为第一代亚裔美国人，我知道我有责任让别人看到和听到我的声音，”他解释道。(5月是亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民传统月。)
作为中国移民的儿子，田长霖在匹兹堡度过了童年。他从母亲那里学到了“如何成为一个仆人式的领导者”，从父亲那里学到了如何过公共服务的生活。这条路始于健身房里的一次谈话。
“我真的认为你应该考虑西点军校，而不是其他任何军事院校，只是西点军校，”田回忆他的父亲说。“我说，‘为什么?’他说，‘因为如果美利坚合众国不接受我们的家庭，你祖父的家庭，你今天就不会坐在这里，你也不会成为美国公民。’...穿过爱丽丝岛。"
田长霖听从了父亲的建议，进入美国军事学院(U.S. Military Academy)，在那里他成为第一位担任上尉和旅长的亚裔美国人，这是该校排名最高的学员职位。
他最终在伊拉克服役了三次，第一次是沙漠风暴行动，然后在私营部门和政府部门工作。
几十年后，田说，他在军校时的座右铭——“责任、荣誉、国家”——和国土安全部的座右铭“本质上是一样的。”
“这句格言真的融入了我的DNA。这是我的人生信条，”他说。“这确实是我生活的主线，也是我渴望行动和表现的方式。”
当马约卡斯打电话给他询问2021年的一份工作时，马约卡斯告诉他，他“在正确的时间为国家提供了正确的经验和技能组合，”曾在布什和奥巴马白宫的国家安全委员会工作过的田说。
“基地组织的运作方式与卡特尔的运作方式非常相似，”他说。
Top DHS official on how his background informs his mission: Dismantling drug cartels
Deputy Homeland Security Secretary John Tien, a 24-year Army vet, now finds himself with a new challenge, handed down by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas specifically because of his background:defeating, disrupting and dismantlingMexican drug cartels.
"These cartels are responsible for human smuggling, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking in particular, who are making, shipping and selling dangerous and deadly narcotics," Tien told ABC News in an interview, laying blame with them for the spread of opioids like fentanyl.
Tien is one of the most senior law enforcement officials in the country. His status as a veteran isn't so unique -- there are about 54,000 others working at the department, or about 20% of employees -- but it informs his work even out of the military.
So, too, does his heritage.
"As a first-generation Asian American, I know that I've got a responsibility to be both seen and heard," he explained. (May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.)
The son of Chinese immigrants, Tien spent his early childhood in Pittsburgh. He learned from his mother "how to be a servant leader" and from his father how to lead a life of public service. That path began with a single conversation in the weight room.
"I really think you should consider West Point, not any of the other military academies, just West Point," Tien recalls his father saying. "And I said, 'Why?' And he said, 'Because you wouldn't be sitting here today, you wouldn't be [an] American citizen, without the United States of America accepting our family, your grandfather's family ... through Ellis Island.'"
Tien followed his father's advice, attending the U.S. Military Academy, where he became the first Asian American to serve as the first captain and brigade commander, the school's top-ranked cadet position.
He ultimately served three tours in Iraq -- with his first being Operation Desert Storm -- then went on to both private sector and government work.
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security John K. Tien arrives for a G7 Interior and Security Ministers Meeting in Eltville am Rhein, western Germany on Nov. 18, 2022.
Andre Pain/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
Decades later, Tien said his motto while at the academy -- "duty, honor, country" -- and the motto of the Department of Homeland Security are "essentially one and the same."
"That motto literally is in my DNA. It's my life credo," he said. "And it has indeed been the throughline of my life and how I aspire to act and behave."
When Mayorkas called him about a job in 2021, Mayorkas told him he has "the right combination of experience and skills at the right time for the nation," said Tien, who previously worked on the National Security Council in the Bush and Obama White Houses.
"The way al-Qaida operates is very similar to the way the cartels operate," he said.
