Waste of the Day: Embattled MD is Highest-Paid Homeland Security Employee

Topline: Alexander Eastman, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection acting chief medical officer, is accused of drinking while carrying a firearm and rewriting government purchasing rules to buy fentanyl lollipops. He is the highest-paid employee in the history of the Department of Homeland Security, according to payroll records obtained by OpenTheBooks.com.

What kind of people have Homeland Security hired?

Key facts: Eastman was hired in 2017 with a salary of $133,443. By 2020, he was earning $301,146, making him the first and only Homeland Security employee with a salary above $300,000. 

He has been the highest-paid employee in the department every year since, with a salary of $323,933 in 2024. 

Eastman worked at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as an assistant professor of surgery from 2009 to 2018, earning at least $300,000 in taxpayer-funded salary nearly every year.

His university salary topped out at $363,320 in 2017 — the same year he was hired by Homeland Security, meaning he collected salary from both the federal government and the State of Texas. Eastman also earned concurrent salaries in 2018.

In total, Eastman earned $4.7 million from taxpayers from 2009 to 2023. The figure includes $1.7 million from the federal government and $2.9 million from Texas.

Eastman’s LinkedIn page indicates he was also employed by the Dallas Police Department from 2004 to 2016, but he is not listed in OpenTheBooks’ Dallas payroll records.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Who is Alexander Eastman?

Background: Eastman was the Acting Chief Medical Officer for U.S. Customs and Border Protection while on assignment from Homeland Security, beginning in 2023.

In February 2024, whistleblowers working with the Government Accountability Project sent a letter to Congress with allegations against Eastman. 

Eastman allegedly tried to order fentanyl lollipops for a helicopter trip to the United Nations in New York City in September 2023, spending “copious hours of staff time” with several employees on the “urgent” request. 

Eastman allegedly said the lollipops were needed for “pain management” in case an employee was injured during the trip, or they encountered a “patient in need.”

When told the lollipops would violate department procurement rules, Eastman allegedly wrote a new set of rules and signed it himself. In the end, employees could not find a lollipop seller in time for the trip.

The same letter claimed that Eastman “has frequently spoken lewdly about women … creating a hostile environment for employees.” Employees also said Eastman “frequently” travels between Washington D.C. and his home in Texas, a “gross waste of taxpayer dollars” to “accommodate his remote work.”

Another letter in May accused Eastman of drinking alcohol while wearing a pistol around his waist “on multiple occasions,” which would violate employee conduct rules.

In December, Eastman was reassigned back to Homeland Security headquarters.

Summary

Summary: Eastman is innocent until proven guilty, but if any of the allegations are true, that’s no way for a Chief Medical to behave, especially not while being paid  $323,933.           

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.