Trump plans to divert $7.2 billion from Pentagon for border wall construction: report

The Hill ^ | 01/13/20 | JUSTINE COLEMAN

[BeauBo]

President Trump plans to divert $7.2 billion from the Pentagon to go toward border wall construction this year, an amount five times greater than what Congress authorized in the budget, the Washington Post reported.

This would be the second year in a row that money is redirected to the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border from military construction projects and counternarcotics funding.

The administration will take $3.5 billion from counter-drug programs and $3.7 billion from military construction funding, according to internal planning figures obtained by The Post, compared to $2.5 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively, last year...

A total of $18.4 billion in federal funds has (will have) gone to the border wall during Trump’s presidency. The plans indicate that this new boost of funding would allow the administration to build about 885 miles of new fencing by spring of 2022, more than the 509 miles planned for the border, according to the Post.

[9YearLurker]

I’m not talking about Trump being a dictator or violating rules. I am talking about him protecting the country, as is his charge.

[Balding_Eagle]

How old are you, your posts read like they’re written by a teenager.

[donozark]

That was explained in Post 25.

[Balding_Eagle]

There’s another option you should have considered also, and it’s the option she is acting on.

[i_robot73]

If we eliminated the illegal welfare state & arrested\prosecuted govt employees for aiding/abetting/colluding/derelict of duty/violation oath of office+ we could have save taxpayers the price of the wall many times over.

[PCPOET7]

I agree with you . I am just saying that behaving constitutionally is the reason it has taken this long to get the wall built.

[BeauBo]

“2022 is not within Trump’s first term.”

I am looking at it from a Washington D.C. perspective. The Government’s job (getting the money, and awarding contracts) to build those 885 miles will be done this year. Contractors will require over a year to complete their construction.

The Army Corps of Engineers, who manage the contract administration for the Department of Homeland Security, also view it this way. LTG Semonite, the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, habitually uses the term “in the Ground” to describe projects once they reach the phase of contract awarded and validated funding obligated against it.

Because contractors are carefully screened for capability ahead of time, and bonded for insurance against unforeseen problems, it is kind of a fait accompli.

During the Bush-era wall building program, every project in this status continued to completion under the Obama Administration. Obama put an immediate halt to new awards after his inauguration, but did not revoke previous awards. Revoking awards for the convenience of Government (which is what would be needed) entails forfeiting huge amounts of the money, and largely sacrificing the contract deliverables. It would also be politically challenging, and impossible to hide from the public.

On a bright note, segments of barrier have been carefully prioritized, so that the most important miles are being done first. The first 300-400 miles (border cities and the Rio Grande Valley) account for the great bulk of illegal immigration, and always have. Except perhaps for Laredo, Texas, this will be largely complete (Constructed) by the end of 2020.

San Diego, the largest urban area on the border, and traditionally the first or second most trafficked corridor, is scheduled for completion this month (Jan 20). Its an awesome double barrier system with a fully developed enforcement zone between them - cleared observation area, continuous all-weather, high speed road, grid-powered stadium lighting, full coverage with powerful cameras, and a suite of alarms and sensors - all monitored in a command post, with artificial intelligence software to cue operators. Big change.

Yuma, traditionally the third heaviest traveled corridor, is half done, and scheduled to complete construction this year.

The Rio Grande Valley (over 100 miles of heavily vegetated open border) is fully funded and contracted, with construction recently begun. It is scheduled to complete construction this year.

885 miles takes us far down the priority list,, deep into areas which currently experience minimal traffic, but terrain would allow them to serve as feasible alternate routes, as better routes are closed. It is only 100-200 miles short of the total barrier originally recommended in the Comprehensive Plan to Achieve Full Operational Control of the Southern Border, developed in response to President Trump’s Executive Order 13767.

Paralleling the barrier rollout, is full scale deployment of technology programs (”Virtual Fence”), which is deploying faster than barrier, in mileage terms. Technology is planned for every mile of border, barrier or not. Technology may make enough of an operational difference in very rural areas to largely replace the marginal value of some of the last miles of barrier on the priority list.

So the bottom line I was getting at, is that with this additional $7.2 billion, enough money has been acquired, and enough time is available for contracting, to buy enough barrier and technology for an approximately complete border security Program.

$1.4 billion per year for barrier is built into the baseline budget through 2027 (thanks Paul Ryan), which is enough to add 50 to 100 miles per year. So that is kind of on auto-pilot.

[9YearLurker]

I’m just saying it isn’t that.

But I hope he’s changing for the better. It appears, rather belatedly, as if he is at least taking the wall more seriously, though as we know that alone isn’t nearly enough.

He gets sucked in on some stuff, mostly IMO based on Jared and Ivanka’s sway. E.g., Jared went along with the full-globalist compromise of sovereignty for the “new NAFTA”—and Trump is still telling us how great it is.

[Eleutheria5]

How dare he! Diverting much-needed funds from defending the country just to fulfill a campaign promise to defend the country. Chutzpah!/s

[Go Gordon]

BeauBo - RE: Post 67. Thanks for your great explanation. Very helpful.

[equaviator]

Take some of that wall money and establish Air National Guard units at some of those airports such as the one in McAllen, TX...all along the US-Mexico border. Keep America Great!

[BeauBo]

"Take some of that wall money and establish Air National Guard units at some of those airports such as the one in McAllen, TX...all along the US-Mexico border."

No need to take the wall money, border security is a valid Military mission, as are anti-terrorism and counter-narcotics.

Increasing Military engagement with the problems on our Southern Border, has been steadily progressing throughout the Trump Administration.

In addition to a program to temporarily (going on two years now) deploy Military personnel to the border, in support of DHS, there also seems to be developing the kind of deliberate, long-term Military tasking that you propose. Great minds think alike.

Troops have been hardening Ports of Entry and emplacing hundreds of miles of concertina, as well as providing logistics support and pulling shifts monitoring screens in command centers, to free up badged officers for Law Enforcement.

But significantly, they have also been bringing Military surveillance assets to bear on the border. Not just a few ground-based sensors, but actually a (very) significant reinforcement of Predator Drone flights, that seems to be structured as a standing capability, rather than a temporary deployment - at a string of bases along the border, as you proposed.

NORTHCOM currently maintains situational awareness of North American Aerospace and Maritime borders, through their subordinate command, NORAD. NORTHCOM also operates Joint Task Force (JTF) North, which provides standing command and control for Military support to Homeland Security.

They have the ability (and likely now the mission) to apply available Military assets (including possibly satellite capabilities) to maintain a real time situational awareness of the Southern land border as well, and to share that capability with DHS. The net result would be dramatically improved detection and tracking across the entirety of the Southern Border.

[equaviator]

It should be out of an abundance of caution that we bring the Air National Guard to border states with airfields...We don't want to have to use it but as long as they know what we've got here where the grass is so much greener, what could go wrong?

[BeauBo]

I wasn’t talking about lethal air power, but rather airborne reconnaissance, surveillance and C4I (Command, Control, Computing, Communications and Intelligence).

I don’t anticipate any JAG’s approving of firing on unarmed non-combatant immigrants.

Drug cartels are another matter altogether though. The likelihood of Military action against them seems to have risen in the last year, with very high level meetings with the Mexican Government (President, Foreign Minister, Chief of their Armed Forces).

We have long had a standing Joint Task Force (JTF-B) focused on Counter-Narcotics, and in the past we were active in operations against Colombian cartels (e.g. Pablo Escobar).

I would imagine that any lethal Military Force would be like that - Special Ops, Intelligence and Law Enforcement; working with the Host Nation Government. It would probably just require a few drones, and possibly helicopters.

[equaviator]

Gotta put the fear of ‘Hawg’ in them. ..A show of force or the potential for force, that is. So tired of hearing how that might “send the wrong message”, etc.

[ChildOfThe60s]

As far as I am concerned, he can take $50 billion from ANY department EXCEPT border patrol and ICE and build the wall.

How about about from the DOJ? It’s worthless. DOE? Another worthless piece of garbage. Ditto for the EPA. Shall I go on?

[bert]

Stand by to eat your DOJ words

[ChildOfThe60s]

I have no problem with being proven wrong on that point. I would be delighted to eat crow. It isn’t going to happen.

[mbrfl]

“Lots of stuff he has the executive power to do on his own—and hasn’t.”

Name one. And in particular, name one that wouldn’t have been overturned by the courts prior to Trump and McConnell’s makeover. Without a change in the make up of the courts every act of his would have been challenged and likely reversed. Changing the courts took time.

[calenel]

Changing the courts took time.

It is by no means finished. And your argument that it was (is) necessary first is quite pertinent. Without the redemption of the courts it would be almost trivial for the next Democrat administration to roll it all back.