Diane Sahakian

CBP Acquisitions

Diane V. Sahakian was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Acquisition (OA) in July 2023, where she oversees 350 acquisition and procurement professionals.

Within CBP, acquisition is the discipline that works with agency operators to identify, design, assess, procure, and maintain capabilities needed for mission attainment. 

Procurement is the technical purchase of goods and services to equip and support the CBP mission. The OA procurement team expects to administer contracts of approximately $5 billion in support of CBP operations, following extensive purchasing regulations and safeguarding taxpayer interests.

Assistant Commissioner Sahakian began her career with the U.S. Customs Service in 1985, and in 2003, she helped launch CBP as part of the Department of Homeland Security. She was appointed Deputy Assistant Commissioner of OA and CBP’s Head of the Contracting Activity in 2016 where she served in both roles up until her latest appointment. 

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Tufts University and Master certificates in both project management and commercial contracting from George Washington University. Assistant Commissioner Sahakian is also a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute’s Leadership for Democratic Society program and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Managers in Government program.

Prior to her current position, Ms. Meckley served as Assistant Director, Office of Professional Responsibility, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), DHS, from April 2010 to November 2010.

From October 2009 to April 2010, Ms. Meckley was the Acting Assistant Director, Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Mission Support, ICE, DHS.

From July 2007 to October 2009, Ms. Meckley was Chief of Staff for Management, ICE Headquarters, where she provided daily operational support and strategic guidance to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management and ICE senior leadership, focusing on finance, facilities, technology, procurement, policy, training and development, human capital, and diversity.

From September 2006 to July 2007, Ms. Meckley was Assistant Vice President (AVP) and Assistant Chief Privacy Officer, for ChoicePoint, a publicly traded company that provided data and data solutions to its customers. She was Director, Credentialing, Compliance and Privacy Office Outreach, from May 2005 to Sept. 2006, prior to her promotion to AVP. Ms. Meckley created ChoicePoint’s privacy program; developed ChoicePoint’s privacy principles, policies and strategy, and led ChoicePoint’s privacy reputation management program.

From March 2003 to May 2005, Ms. Meckley was Deputy Assistant Administrator, Transportation Security Policy, Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  From August 2004 to November 2004, she served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Administrator, TSA, and from March 2003 to August 2004, as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff, TSA, performing a variety of management, advisory, policy, analysis, and guidance functions for executive and field personnel, as well as identifying problems and developing strategies and tactics for resolution.