Frontline customs officers to train at new Global Borders College in W.Va.

About $250 million has been spent and allocated for the training and education facilities at the center, which opened in 2005 off Koonce Road, officials said.

Bersin said he believed the killing of Osama bin Laden marked the beginning of the second phase of the war on terrorism.

“It is not a time when we can let down our guard,” Bersin said of the al-Qaida leader's recent demise. “But it is a time in which we adjust to the changed circumstances of this challenge to our society, to our civilization.”

Rockefeller said in a news release that 5,000 frontline customs officers will train at the school annually.

The college building — which was built to achieve gold level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification — houses six classrooms, a computer lab and more than 80 staff offices.

It opened about a month ago, according to Public Affairs Specialist Stephanie Malin.  

Malin — who noted that parking areas were made with recycled concrete — said the facility would have qualified for the highest possible LEED certification if it were served by mass transit.

The building was built on the site of the Americast precast concrete plant.

Friday's ceremony came after Customs and Border Protection officials quietly dedicated a memorial at the entrance to the new college building to honor agency employees who died in the line of duty. A moment of silence was held for border patrol agents Hector R. Clark and Eduardo Rojas Jr., who died May 12 near Yuma, Ariz., while pursuing suspected drug smugglers.

Clark and Rojas were buried Friday after a public memorial service.

Bersin said the grand opening of the college was akin to a graduation commencement for the agency, which still has plans to construct a new campus entrance and welcome center, dining hall and dormitory conference-center complex.