Great Falls Tribune - Talking About 'Other' Border: Exposure to Canada Discussed

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Whether it's concerns over illegal immigration, the cross-border drug trade or the potential for terrorist infiltration, when it comes to border security, the nation's focus has largely been upon the United States' southern border with Mexico.

However, at more than 5,500 miles in length, the United States' northern border with Canada is nearly three times longer than its border with Mexico, and the need for personnel and equipment to keep this border safe is deserving of increased national attention as well.

That was the overarching message expressed by panelists during a field hearing on northern border security that took place in Havre on Friday. Chaired by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who shared center stage with Republican Rep. Steve Daines, the meeting included representatives from a wide variety of public officials charged with securing Montana's border with Canada.

"Today we'd like to discuss some of the things we're doing right, and we'd like to identify some of our opportunities to improve the things that we can do better," Tester said during his opening remarks. "It's not just a security issue, it's an economic issue and it is a jobs issue."

Much of the testimony at the 2½-hour meeting dealt with improving interagency cooperation and the need for additional resources.

"The problem that we have is that the meager pool of resources that we have is becoming increasingly shallow," U.S. Border Patrol Agent Nathan Burr said. "The combination of the Border Patrol's last congressionally mandated mass hire and the current budgetary crisis has left many areas drastically underfunded. Interagency cooperation at the federal level is completely functional but strained. Many agencies are more concerned with protecting their territory than actual mission accomplishment."

Burr gave the example of a train-checking operation manned by a dedicated unit of Border Patrol agents who made regular inspections of passenger trains running across Montana's Hi-Line. The program was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Border Patrol, Amtrak and ticket agencies across the northern United States to seek out people wanted on criminal warrants.

"We checked the trains every day, and our apprehension numbers skyrocketed. We continued checking trains in this manner until the fall of 2011, when the Border Patrol succumbed to mounting political pressure regarding our train-check operations. The previous level of cooperation is gone now."

Burr said the biggest challenge to Border Patrol agents was the vast size of the northern border and a lack of manpower, coupled with wide open terrain of the northern plains.

"There are no natural choke-points where you can put remote sensors or anything like that," he noted.

Debbie Vandeberg, executive director of the Havre Chamber of Commerce, noted how an increasingly cumbersome permitting system at border crossings and inconsistent hours of operation at ports of entry is hampering local trade between cross-border communities. She said that since 2009, the number of permits required to transport agricultural equipment between the U.S. and Canada has risen from four to 14.

"Every time we in the U.S. ratchet up our permitting process the Canadian government responds by upping theirs," Vandeberg said. "That's a huge challenge. Basically the feeling is, when the doors aren't open, how can we do business?"

Christopher Richards, Havre sector chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, told Tester and Daines the northern border in Montana differs significantly from the Mexican border in that there is parallel access road running the border's length.

He said that 72 percent of the border in Montana is privately owned agricultural land, making patrolling the border by ground doubly difficult.

"How do you measure success?" Daines asked Richards. "What is the definition of having a secure border?"

"Our success is measured in how many criminals we apprehend," Richards replied. "It is a function of our situational awareness -- how well we know what's going on and how we respond and apply our resources. In the end, a secure border is when the American people feel safe."

Robert DesRosier, Homeland Security director for the Blackfeet Nation, told the congressmen that his department has developed strong and mutually supportive relationships with the other federal law enforcement agencies operating in and around the Blackfeet Reservation. However, a lack of adequate communications equipment routinely hampers their best efforts.

DesRosier told of one incident in which patrol units from both the U.S. Border Patrol and Blackfeet Tribal Police were in pursuit of a suspect in a stolen vehicle. During the pursuit, the tribal officers were unable to communicate directly by radio to their counterparts with the Border Patrol.

The chase ultimately ended with the apprehension of the suspect, but the lack of communication complicated the operation to an unsafe level.

Although neither Tester nor Daines offered any immediate solutions to the problems presented at the hearing, both promised they would take what they had learned back to Washington, D.C., with them.

"The bottom line is, if we can establish partnerships between elected officials, law enforcement agencies and local government, I think we can do the best job that can possibly be done," Tester said.

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