Gibbons picks new homeland security chief

CARSON CITY -- A veteran federal law enforcement agent was named by Gov. Jim Gibbons as the new director of the Nevada Department of Homeland Security.

Rick Eaton will assume the post on Aug. 6, three days after his retirement from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after 29 years. The agencies are part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

While working for the federal government, Eaton has overseen investigations ranging from drug smuggling to money laundering to human trafficking. For the last seven years, he has served as ICE's assistant special agent in Sacramento, where he oversaw eastern California and Northern Nevada. Earlier, he spent six years as the special agent in charge of the Reno office.

He has a home in Reno and has commuted each week to his office in Sacramento.

"I am looking forward to coming home," Eaton said on Wednesday. "I am also eager to apply my talents to the challenges Nevada faces in protecting our homeland."

Gibbons said he was pleased to hire a man of Eaton's caliber to advance efforts to protect Nevadans.

"Rick Eaton has distinguished himself during a nearly 30-year career in federal law enforcement," the governor said. "His experience has given him an ideal mixture of familiarity with the federal Department of Homeland Security and knowledge of Nevada."

Eaton, who will be paid $112,500 a year, replaces Lawrence Martines, who resigned earlier this month.

Administration officials have not given a reason for Martines' resignation. But a law enforcement official who spoke on a condition of anonymity told the Review-Journal earlier this month that Martines alienated people he was supposed to be working with by not seeking their input and skipping important meetings, such as a May meeting of the Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association.

Martines also angered Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Washoe County officials with his push for Gibbons' plan for a "fusion hub" in the state capital to distribute terrorism information to local law enforcement agencies statewide.

Eaton said Wednesday: "I'm an inclusive manager; I like to bring everybody on board. I believe I can improve communication among our state's law enforcement agencies and the federal government, which is vital to homeland security. I also look forward to helping build our department into a proactive force that will help protect Nevadans from any threat."

In Sacramento, Eaton's agency joined with state and local law enforcement officials in Operation Community Shield, an effort that led to the arrest of more than 2,900 gang members involved in street crime.

"Street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to communities throughout this area," Eaton said at a news conference last year in Modesto, Calif. "The violence, sophistication, and scope of these organizations have reached intolerable levels."

Eaton was the first immigration officer to receive a national award from the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives for outstanding accomplishments in criminal justice.

He also has a long record of volunteer work with Boy Scouts of America. In Reno in 1994, he established the first Boy Scout troop ever chartered to the Justice Department. He became the first Nevadan to win the Spirit of Scouting Award, and was later named one of the 60 Outstanding Scoutmasters in the United States.