INACTIONS OF GOVERNMENT IS BIGGEST NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT

By Diane M. Grassi

When the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 was signed into law last December by President Bush, Republican Congressmen in the House of Representatives were concerned that the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 would not provide enough funding for the additional Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents which the law was also to provide. The law mandated the doubling of Border Patrol agents from approximately 10,000 now to 20,000 by adding 2,000 additional agents per year for the next five years. It also authorized the tripling of ICE agents, responsible for enforcement of immigration laws in the interior, from 2,000 to 6,000 by adding 800 per year for the next five years. In addition, detention beds where illegal aliens can be detained, were to be tripled to a total of 60,000 within the next five years.

Unfortunately, the proposed budget for 2006 by President Bush did not own up to its promise dictated in the new law, and allowed only for an additional 210 Border Patrol agents instead of the 2,000. In January of 2005, former Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, was quoted prior to the introduction of President Bush’s budget proposal in February saying, “2,000 new border agents aren’t part of the budget. The notion that you’re going to have 10,000 is sort of a fool’s gold. It’s nice to say you’re going to have 10,000 more Border Patrol agents in five years, but what other part of Homeland Security do you want to take money from?”

The U.S. Senate approved the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006 on July 14, 2005 in the amount of $31.8 billion. There were two amendments proposed in the bill to specifically provide for the loss of those Border Patrol agents not funded in President Bush’s budget proposal, along with the necessary detention beds. Senator John Ensign (D-NV) sponsored the amendment calling for funding an additional 1,000 Border Patrol agents, and Senator John McCain ( R-AZ) sponsored an amendment for 5,760 more detention beds. Both amendments were far below the amounts ratified in the law and were voted down by no less than 60 senators.

Just a week after the London terrorist bombings in their subway system and on a bus line, the Senate’s vote epitomized the lack of concern over the largest looming problem in the War on Terrorism in the U.S., which remains the lack of security at U.S. borders. In 2004 alone three million illegal aliens were apprehended by the Border Patrol with most of them released due to the lack of detention beds and over 50,000 were from countries other than Mexico (OTM). And the Border Patrol estimates that they catch one out of every three illegal aliens crossing the southern border. Several of the 9/11 hijackers were known to have entered the U.S. through the southern border. Yet even a daily growing illegal alien population which cannot be properly detained and screened did not prevent lawmakers from carrying on politics as usual.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has recently been quite vocal about wanting to crack down on illegal immigration and adding border security and even posted such on her website saying, “This administration has failed to provide the resources to protect our borders, or a better system to keep track of entrants to this country. I welcome the addition of more border security.” Senator Clinton then voted against both amendments. Likewise, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) who has led the charge in protecting our ports and has called for mandatory inspection of cargo in the underbellies of commercial airplanes voted against the amendments.

Both Senators Clinton and Schumer were joined by several Republican senators including Rick Santorum (R-PA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), George Voinovich (R-OH) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) in voting against adding Border Patrol agents and adding detention beds. Senator Schumer stated that there would not be enough money for first responders if the amendments went forward. Senator Clinton wanted more money appropriated for mass transit. Instead their failure to vote for the amendments did nothing to address their concerns and in the process let down not only their constituents but the American people. The funding of mass transit in 2006 in this ratified Senate bill was actually decreased from 2005 spending from $150 million to $100 million and a far cry from the requested $1.16 billion.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, also did not make many friends last week across the nation and especially on Capitol Hill. Senator Schumer actually asked for an apology and suggested he resign when he appeared before the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Chertoff’s plan is to overhaul and rearrange the entire Department of Homeland Security which consists of 22 separate agencies. It was created in 2002 shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Secretary Chertoff’s plan calls for appointing an intelligence director to centralize the analysis of information from the different branches of the agency and hiring a directorate to centralize preparedness across agencies, which is now handled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which will now focus solely on disaster response and recovery. Chertoff has expressed willingness to address border security primarily through use of a new camera system at the cost of $2.5 billion, after the $250 million spent on surveillance cameras during former Secretary Tom Ridge’s term resulted in a federal investigation on no-bid contracts and a total operational equipment failure.

At the same time, Secretary Chertoff also has been working with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to ease visa restrictions for foreigners working, attending school or studying in the U.S. He said, “Security at U.S. borders should not come at the cost of migrant immigrants who come to the U.S. to find work.” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) argued that “Border security was more important than reforming immigration policy.” And on the issue of additional spending for mass transit security in the aftermath of the London bombings, Chertoff said that cities will have to foot the bill themselves when it comes to trains and buses. His priorities are clearly overseeing airplane travel although over 14 million people travel on the mass transit systems of the U.S. every workday, with half of them in the New York Metropolitan area.

Ultimately it is the inactions of the three branches of government and the continuation of rhetoric and politically correct promises which will stall any progress on national security as concerns our borders. Our executive branch, two legislative branches and administration policy makers have become so entangled in their own webs of double talk, that they may actually have fooled themselves into believing that the security needs of the American people are being met.

And as the U.S. Armed Forces are put in harm’s way fighting for the security of Iraq’s borders on behalf of the Iraqi people, with such obvious holes in our own stateside borders, it remains unconscionable that the U.S. government continues to undermine its citizenry in keeping our borders open without the necessary security in place. It rings hollow with the American people and certainly with those out to destroy us.