GRAND FORKS (AP) - Glen Schroeder is retiring as the top border patrol officer here, but not from border security work. He'll just be doing it in another part of the world.

This week, Schroeder begins a new job in the Republic of Georgia, as a border security adviser to the Georgia Border Police in Tbilisi, the country's capital city.

Federal law enforcement officers must retire at age 57, and Schroeder turned 57 in December.

"I knew this was coming, this mandatory retirement, and, quite honestly, I wasn't ready to sit back and do nothing," he said. "I started to look around a little bit, and this opportunity sort of materialized and the timing was right."

Schroeder, a native of Pembina, began his career with the Border Patrol in California in 1977. He returned to Grand Forks in 2000, after spending time in Havre, Mont.

In Tbilisi, Schroeder will be a contract employee with the U.S. government, and he hopes to use his 30 years of border patrol experience to help the former Soviet country secure its borders.

"The priorities for the Georgia Border Police are very similar to the priorities that the United States Border Patrol has on customs and border protection," he said.

For now, Schroeder plans to stay a year. He expects to face such issues as counterterrorism, narcotics smuggling and human trafficking. Georgia's proximity to Iran also creates security issues related to terrorism, he said.

"Azerbaijan is just a small country that separates Georgia from Iran. There's not a great deal of distance between Tbilisi and Tehran," Schroeder said.

In Tbilisi, Schroeder will work out of the U.S. embassy with diplomatic status. He said he knows something about what to expect, but he also is prepared to learn on the run.

"It's another adventure," he said.

Schroeder's wife, Jean, is allowed to visit him for 90 days at a time on her passport without a visa. He will be allowed periodic return visits to the United States.

Schroeder has been the chief patrol agent for the Grand Forks sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, which is responsible for eight states and 861 miles of the U.S. border with Canada in North Dakota and Minnesota.

In a change of command ceremony Friday, Schroeder turned over the job to Scott Baker, a former Marine and former deputy chief patrol agent in Grand Forks.

Kevin Stevens, the deputy chief of the Office of Border Patrol, said Baker has border patrol experience in various parts of the country and is a proven leader. "Scott has what I consider to be an uncanny ability to cut through the fog," he said.

The border patrol plans to partner with the North Dakota National Guard and the University of North Dakota to use unmanned aircraft to help with border security.