Posted on 02/21/2007 4:56:51 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast said Tuesday that protecting the nation’s borders means bringing together the different cultures of federal agencies.
The Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have different procedures because of the way they handle their missions, which must be broadened to be more effective, she told more than 100 people attending a three-day Secure Border Initiative Conference at The Palms. The military and other government agencies must look at integrating homeland security and homeland defense, said Fast, who commands the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca.
“Personally, I believe sealing our borders can’t be done, even if we want to,” she said in the conference’s opening remarks.
Having returned from Iraq on Sunday, the general said action is being taken by American forces and Iraqi Border Police to control the border, especially between Iraq and Syria.
Border control hard
Like the United States’ problem with controlling its land borders, Iraq is having difficulties, Fast said. Like in America, complete control will never be fully reached. Unlike the U.S., the border issue Iraq faces is part of an armed conflict in the region. While complete control of the land borders the United States shares with Mexico and Canada will not be unpenetrable, efforts must be made to make entry as difficlut as possilbe, the general said. That, she added, will require developing partnerships at all levels, federal, state and local.
And the general said part of a partnership’s foundation can be found on Fort Huachuca, where developing, testing and training is done. “We have a tremendous partnership in the Southwest,” Fast said.
Post officials consider the various units on the fort a team, calling the partnership Team Huachuca.
She hopes the conference will excite the participants to create many partnerships to help the nation.
The Association of Old Crows is sponsoring the nationwide event. The conference is being held in conjunction with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Homeland Security Program Committee and the Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca.
Problems are different
Kirk Evans, SBI program manager for the Customs and Border Protection portion of the Department of Homeland Security, said the United States faces a problem that is “not one size fits all.” What can be done along the border with Mexico may not be possible along the American and Canadian border, he said. The topography of the border areas are different, as well as the philosophy of the governments that share the boundary with America.
“We have a very friendly nation in the north, and at best a benign one on the southern border,” he said.
When it comes to protecting America’s borders, “we can’t build a moat and drawbridge,” Evans said.
But more must be done to protect the United States, he added.
The borders are just a starting point because enforcement must be done throughout the United States. There are at least an estimated 12 million people in America illegally.
In the past, the federal government did not have the infrastructure to hold those who were found, and many of them were released with the promise they would show up later for a legal proceeding, which many did not do.
“They became fugitive absconders,” Evans said.
There are vanishing points in different parts of the nation, where someone who crosses the international boundary can disappear, much of the time without having any fear of being apprehended, Evans said.
In some cases, it can be as easy as walking in the back door of a supermarket, a safe house just a few feet from the border or by getting into a vehicle and being driven away, he said.
High- and low-tech systems are being used to find ways to control the illegal activities along Americas border, Evans said.
A problem that will come up soon is the eventual elimination of National Guard people along the border, Evans said. The time of their missions along the border will slowly be reduced and likely eventually be gone.
Technology is helpful
Craig Weinbrenner, assistant chief patrol agent in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, put a more pinpoint view on local border issues.
The use of more technology has helped control illegal activities within the sector, he said. But smugglers of people and drugs still like to use the Arizona corridor, which accounts for most of the illegal immigration problem in the nation.
During the 2006 federal fiscal year, 47 percent of all apprehensions of illegal immigrants took place in Arizona, he said. Since Oct. 1 to present, the amount is 36 percent.
“The Arizona corridor is the last area along the Southwest border with a smuggler infrastructure,” Weinbrenner said.
It appears those engaged in illegal activities are reluctant to cease operations in Arizona, he said.
The agency’s Tucson Sector also worries about terrorists smuggling in weapons of mass destruction, especially since they may now be smaller devices, Weinbrenner said.
Special task force
The Border Patrol has additional help with resources through Joint Task Force North, which has its headquarters at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Brig. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, commander of the task force, also spoke during the conference.
The task force was formed in 1989 to help with counterdrug work. It was then called Joint Task Force Six.
The missions and name of the task force are different now because it reflects how border issues have changed, the general said. The task force is now involved in providing support to other agencies in combating foreign terrorism, alien smuggling and drug-trafficking organizations.
Those involved in the criminal organizations “are adaptive and resourceful,” Ierardi said. And the mission, he added, of those group’s leaders “is to harm the United States.”
In helping defeat those organizations, Ierardi said Joint Task Force North is a force multiplier.
The task force acts as a broker in seeking volunteer units of all services, active National Guard and Reserves, to provide assistance. The organization doesn’t control military units and direct them to support the Border Patrol or local, state and federal agencies. The task force also does not direct law enforcement operations.
The task force also works with counterparts in Canada and Mexico. “We rely on volunteer units needing training,” Ierardi said. Operation Jump Start, which is the use of National Guard to support the Border Patrol, is a program that is not under the operational control of Joint Task Force North.
Through the years, the task force has been able to provide support through mobile training teams, tunnel detection, providing transportation and specialized functions, such as unmanned aerial systems.
There are many units that the task force can use to help agencies such as the Border Patrol, Ierardi said. Some of the military organizations have intelligence background, and civilian law enforcement agencies need that type of expertise.
Law enforcement is like the military regarding intelligence, Ierardi said. Officers prepare the equivalent of their battlefield to know their opportunities and vulnerabilities.
If partnerships are created, even more can be done, he said.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
Good tagline. Reagan, were he still alive, would approve.
Exactly whom I paraphrased it from, Ronaldus Magnus!
Yep CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
It has been for quite some time, but only now are some of the "conservative" sheeple starting to realize it.
(PS - also liked the tagline)
:0]
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