Border officials: Technology could aid security

BELLINGHAM — At a field hearing on immigration here Tuesday, U.S. border authorities told members of the Congressional Homeland Security Committee that technology — not more manpower — is key to making the country's northern border more secure from terrorists.

And the head of the Washington National Guard said that in beefing up national borders, the federal government should be mindful of two major events expected to bring more than 325,000 spectators from around the world to the Pacific Northwest between 2009 and 2010.

The United States shares a border with Canada that is twice the length of its border with Mexico but has one-tenth the number of border agents.

Still, along the rugged stretch within Washington, with vast mountain ranges and waterways, it is not feasible to think more border agents would necessarily lead to greater security, officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.

"I can't say how many agents are needed," said Roland Henley, CBP's chief patrol agent for its Blaine Sector, responding to questions from Democratic members of the committee about their staffing needs.

"I do know that high-tech tools, like UAVs, are something we need to look at seriously." He was referring to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, which are remotely controlled, camera-equipped aircraft used for surveillance.

Tuesday's hearing at the Bellingham City Council Chamber was hosted by two subcommittees of the House Homeland Security Committee. Five committee members hosted the hearing, including Reps. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, and Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton.

The hearing was one of 21 that various House committees are holding in 13 states across the country. The hearings are intended to gauge public sentiment around a variety of immigration and border-security issues, as Congress tries to reconcile separate immigration bills that have been passed by the House and Senate.

Outside the Bellingham chamber, anti-illegal immigrant groups called for tighter borders, while immigrant advocates pleaded for more comprehensive measures that consider the role immigrants play in the economy.

Farmers, showing photographs from last year of apples rotting on the ground in Eastern Washington, told Reichert that Americans do not want to work as fruit pickers.

Rep. Dan Lungren, a Republican from California who chaired Tuesday's hearing, said officials wanted to make certain that in the debate over border security and immigration, the concerns of the northern border were not overlooked.

At the same time, witnesses stressed the need for preserving the free flow of trade and tourism between the U.S. and Canada. Dicks pointed out the special challenges that exist in securing an area with the complex terrain within and around Washington, where people can arrive by sea, land and air.

Pointing out that the Pacific Northwest was where the so-called millennium bomber was apprehended, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said, "It's difficult terrain, and I think increased border agents would be the solution here."

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, more than 1,000 agents have been added to the U.S.-Canadian border.

Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, who heads the Washington National Guard, also chairs a task force that is addressing border-security issues related to an event called the 2009 World Police & Fire Games, an international athletic competition for fire and police personnel, and the 2010 Winter Olympics, both in British Columbia.

Together, the events will bring 20,700 athletes from 80 countries, as well as 325,000 spectators, and Lowenberg said care needs to be taken to make sure that border-security efforts do not create impossible impediments for those events.