Recently, I was on a "grey-beard" panel supporting a Canadian government national security program. From last fall until last month, I was making monthly Dulles-Ottawa trips. NOT ONCE did I encounter anyone -- Canadian or U.S. CBP at the pre-clearance area at YOW -- anything other than completely professional. On my last trip, the Canadian guy asked me if I "was gong to leave anything in Canada." My response was, "Some good advice, I hope."

On the U.S. pre-clearance side, I asked a couple of the agents if these overseas assignments were really competitive and desired. Every one of them said "Yes" and that they were lucky to have gotten these jobs.

I will never forget a conversation I had with a U.S. CPB guy at YOW. Because I carry an official passport, I'm almost always asked the agency I work for. I tell them (because I can tell them in my current position) and tell them they can blame me for what my agency does. I went through this dialogue at YOW once with a CBP guy the size of an NFL linebacker. He looked me right in the eye and said, "I grew up in South Florida and what you guys do for us down there is a blessing." I was truly blown away. I responded by telling him that I knew the director and quite a few of the folks who worked at the place he was talking about. I told him that those folks were much too humble to comprehend that they save tens of thousands of lives every year.

Maybe it was because I was traveling between national capitals, but, I seemed to have found the cream of the crop on both sides of the birder.