I haven't seen too many terrorist cells riding around in Abrams tanks or massed in neat rows like the British at Yorktown lately. And as for the Germans, all they had to do is fly over the thing.
Maginot expected it to provide an economy of force defense while French mobile forces pivoted on it. The mobile forces were poorly deployed and the German plan was brilliant and daring.
But breached it was, at an incredible cost to the French. They'd still be speaking German in Paris today if not for the Allies.
The border can be secured but not with three thousand border patrol agents. It will not take a Maginot Line. The Southern border is less than three thousand miles and even taken with the Canadian border where in Hades did you come up with ten thousand miles? Including all the coasts are you?
Yeah, I guess you busted me on that one. No terrorist or refugee would ever consider using a boat to get to the US. I think its an Islamic thing ...
Taking the southern border as the 1st priority, it could be quite secure with less than one percent of the defense budget.
On what do you base that estimate? How would you "secure the borders"?
Security lines do not trace the border but straighten it via wise use of terrain. Have you ever seen how much open ground even a small detachment can cover in an economy of force mission?
Have you seen how cheap some of the Chinese UAVs are? Do you know that no defense is perfect? Do you really think we have no option but just accept thousands of illegal immigrants per day?
Yes, drug smugglers get boats through sometimes but they often resort to a small space on a legitimate carrier due to the difficulty of getting a drug boat through. Do you think that no boat should be checked out because some boats make it to a drop off? Terrorists could use a boat to get a nuclear weapon close to the coast but the ship could be intercepted. They would more likely have the bomb disguised and stored in a container in a normal legal ship. But intel can catch this too (with a bit of luck).
But your solution is to not even attempt to defend against terrorists or massive immigration?