Smoke and Mirrors....

While the media is focused on Arizona and the people trying to do Border Patrol's job, what is being glossed over is the trial of Ahmed Ressam. He is the terrorist that was stopped by U.S. Customs attempting to bring in explosives through Port Angeles, WA. Believe it or not, he wasn't trying to sneak in through the Southern border. Illegal aliens from countries that have harbored, trained, or produced terrorists are caught try to enter the Northern border almost daily. To compare those coming over to work in the fields or some other type of manual labor with the terrorist threat would be almost humorous if it wasn't so ignorant. To fail to distinguish between the two is disingenuous.

What you will find when examining the illegal aliens coming from Mexico is that most of them come over and work and then return home. Of the millions caught every year, how many have been caught and returned to Mexico only to be caught trying to come over again? Most of them. The same cannot be said for those coming across the border from Canada.

Wait for the smoke to clear, break a few mirrors and see where the greater threat lies.

Earning my Keep...

Sorry for the lag on posts, but I have been earning my keep. Everyonce in a while, I bow up to put something in print, but wisdom keeps me from hitting publish. Hang in, because good things are starting to happen.

BT

Deterrence and Interdiction on the Border...

There are a little over 300 ports of entry across the United States, most of them are on the land borders. Between these ports is the Border Patrol. What every one of those Officers knows is that their business is one of interdiction and not of deterrence. Now one looking in from the outside might say that deterrence is a good thing, especially in the realm of terrorism. We would rather dissuade the terrorists from trying to enter the country than try to catch them when they attempt to enter. Here is the monkey in the wrench so to speak, picture the ports of entry, border patrol roving Officers and Xs as obstructions affixed to an incline. If you run water down the incline, what you will find is that the water goes around the obstructions. That is what happens if you attempt to deter illegal aliens, narcotics smugglers, or terrorists trying to enter the country, they go around the obstructive Officers. The focus has to be one of interdiction, trying to catch them all, which in some ways causes a deterent effect. The mentality of those working the borders has to one of enforcement. The responsibility of those with oversight is to provide the number of Officers needed to conduct the job, provide incentives to keep them in the job, stress interdiction as opposed to facilitation and back up the Officers when they need it.

Bump in the road...

It ought to be more than a bump in the road. Crossing the U.S. borders should be more than a line on a map. Everyone is subject to inspection at the border, diplomats may be the exception, but even they can be inspected in certain circumstances. Why isn't everyone inspected when they cross the border? Because there are a lot more travelers than Officers. Except for a few cursory questions and verifying documents, most people coming into the country spend very little time dealing with border Officers. They get so used to the cursory inspection process that when they are selected for a more intensive inspection, they are offended. In fact, they have been conditioned to this facilitation by none other than the border agencies. Border Officers are continually bombarded with professionalism training, smile and greet every passenger admonitions, facilitate the traffic-we don't want the people waiting statements, but you better not admit a terrorist! Terrorism is our number one priority, but smile and greet everyone! "We must prevent terrorists and weapons of mass destruction from entering the country", but lets move this traffic!

There will always be the struggle to balance security and the economy (facilitation of people and goods into the country). This is normal, and the layered strategy to security is valid, but in the end it comes down to this; In the passenger environment, an Officer making a threat assessment on people entering the country and deciding whether to look at them further or release them. In the cargo environment, it might be an Officer or small group of Officers conducting threat assessment on incoming shipments and deciding which to look at and which to release. At the moment, even with all the bluster about terrorism, facilitation is weighing down the scale. It is a matter of will, and it is not the will of Officers that is at issue. Do our leaders have the will to make the borders more than just a bump in the road?

Current events persistently raise that question.