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President Barack Obama has nominated the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (also known as the nation's drug czar) to be the next head of the Customs and Border Protection Agency.

As ABC News reports, as the president's top drug control policy adviser, Gil Kerlikowske, who was previously Seattle police chief, ushered in a shift in the federal government's attitude toward drug control. He pushed the government to abandon sensationalist rhetoric about drugs, notably discouraging the use of the term "war on drugs" and stressing that drug use was a public health issue.

But Kerlikowske didn't radically reshape federal drug policy during his tenure. The Obama administration continued to value criminal enforcement of drug laws over treatment, at least when it came to spending.

That's why, ABC News reports,

Kerlikowske could be a natural fit to oversee Customs and Border Protection. The agency has seized an enormous amount of marijuana along the Southwest border in recent years, and nabbing pot smugglers is a major part of its mission, in practice.

Of course, he'll also be scrutinized for how he approaches immigration policy. The last acting commissioner of CBP, David Aguilar, was a career Border Patrol officer.

That's certainly not Kerlikowske's background, but the former police chief did have experience with the issue in Seattle. During his tenure, the Seattle Police Department had an official policy not to ask a person about his or her immigration status. The city stood out as immigrant-friendly, in contrast to some surrounding areas in Washington state.