This high-ranking government official served from 2003 to 2006 as Director of the United States Secret Service and from 2006 to 2009 as Commissioner of United States Customs and Border Protection. He was also an early leader of the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Several years after graduating from Washington, D.C.'s Southeastern University, he began working for the United States Secret Service as a Special Agent.
Under the presidential administration of Bill Clinton, he served as Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
He grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky, and later settled in Washington, D.C. His marriage to Judith O'Bryan resulted in two sons and one daughter.
United States President George W. Bush recommended Basham for the position of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner.