Jeep Cherokee stuck on top of US-Mexico border security fence. Picture courtesy of a friend inside US Customs and Border Protection office in Tucson, Arizona.
While browsing Committee reports in Congress recently I came across House Report 113-087 – BORDER SECURITY RESULTS ACT OF 2013, dealing with a wide range of assessments and threat information specific to border security.
I was shocked by what I read in the report including the fact that Congress, through the Department of Homeland Security, is not able currently to handle its principle responsibility to secure the nations borders.
Border security includes the protection of land borders, ports, and airports in the United States.
Here is some of what I read in the report:
“Our homeland security hinges in part on how well we control who and what comes into this country. A porous border is a conduit for not only drug smugglers and human traffickers, but is also a vulnerability that terrorists may exploit. Supporting and overseeing the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to secure the Nation’s borders is one of the principal responsibilities of the Congress.”
“Over ten years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department still does not have a National strategy to secure the borders or reliable metrics to measure border security progress. Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, Congress has appropriated billions of dollars to enhance border security, primarily through new investments in personnel, technology, and infrastructure. However, because those investments were made without the benefit of a national border security strategy, the funds were often expended in an ad hoc way, without well-defined goals in mind”, the report says.
“The Committee believes that border security spending must be informed by a strategic plan and assessed using robust border security performance measures. The Border Security Results Act (BSRA) requires a national strategy and implementation plan to inform the Nation’s border security spending. The required implementation plan should be a roadmap to enable the Department to achieve the 90 percent effectiveness rate standard set forth in the legislation” (source: Congressional Record House Report 113-087 – BORDER SECURITY RESULTS ACT OF 2013 http://thomas.loc.gov).
In some cases the Department of Homeland Security is even helping smuggle illegal immigrant children into the U.S. (source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/19/border-patrol-helps-smuggle-illegal-immigrant-chil/).