John Varrone

John C. Varrone is the Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Investigations for the US Customs Service.

Varrone began his law enforcement career in 1977 as a Customs Patrol Officer in the New York Office of Enforcement where he worked on a variety of airport, seaport and tactical assignments. In 1982, Varrone was promoted to the position of special agent. Through progressively responsible criminal investigative work, primarily in the areas of anti-money laundering and drug smuggling investigations, he advanced through the field ranks in the Office of Investigations serving in a variety of supervisory positions, including: Group Supervisor, Assistant Special Agent in Charge and Program Manager.

In 1992, Varrone was transferred to Customs Headquarters in Washington, DC. While assigned to Headquarters, Varrone served as Branch Chief/Section Chief, Customs Representative to the Office of National Drug Control Policy and Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Enforcement at the Department of the Treasury. While assigned to Headquarters, Varrone was responsible for the formulation and development of numerous national Customs and Office of Investigations policies. In 1997, Varrone was appointed Special Agent in Charge, New York.

In May 1999, Varrone was promoted to the position of Executive Director for Domestic Operations of the East Coast of the United States. This newly established position involved the responsibility of managing, directing and ensuring coordination of the investigative activities of Customs' seven East Coast and Caribbean "Special Agent in Charge" Offices. In February 2000, Varrone began serving as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Investigations and on July 28 was appointed Assistant Commissioner, Office of Investigations.

Varrone received a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in public administration from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In 1999, Varrone completed the Senior Executive Fellows Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.