Border securityLawmakers call for military-grade radar on U.S.-Canadian border
Six U.S. senators are calling for the deployment of military-grade radar along the U.S.-Canada border to catch small aircraft purportedly ferrying drugs into the country; the senators supported their appeal with what they called the success of Operation Outlook, a 2005-8 pilot program by DHS and DoD that used military radar along the border north of Spokane, Washington, to catch low-flying drug aircraft
Military-type radar to catch low-flying drug planes // Source: 123rf.com
Following an effort by DHS secretary Janet Napolitano to debunk a congressional report on the state of security along the U.S.-Canada border, six U.S. senators are calling for the deployment of military-grade radar along the border to catch small aircraft purportedly ferrying drugs into Pennsylvania.
New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, joined fellow Democrat senators Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jon Tester of Montana, and Charles E. Schumer of New York in issuing a letter to Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ask for the radar sweep.
“Vast drug networks along our northern border are exacerbating the gang-related violence in many communities across the state,” Gillibrand said. “This problem must be fought at its source.”
“Drug trafficking into Pennsylvania that is feeding crime and gang activity must be stopped,” Casey added. “A multi-pronged attack is required to catch drug smugglers or terrorists before they can cross the border over Lake Erie into Pennsylvania or other northern states.”
The senators supported their appeal with what they called the success of Operation Outlook, a 2005-8 pilot program by DHS and DoD that used military radar along the border north of Spokane, Washington, to catch low-flying drug aircraft. “This is about using all available resources to prevent drug smuggling on our northern borders,” We have the technology to prevent drug smuggling from low-flying aircraft, now we need to use it,” Brown said in a release.
Operation Outlook “successfully identified air-related smuggling trends and patterns and organizations active in cross-border criminal activities” along the Spokane sector, a news release from Gillibrand’s office said.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in November that the incidence of low-flying aircraft smuggling drugs has been higher than the numbers indicated by drug seizures.
The move came a day after Napolitano attempted to debunk a congressional report’s finding that U.S. border agents adequately secure just fifty-one kilometers of the nation’s boundary with Canada. Napolitano reacted “sharply” to a question from Michigan Republican Candice Miller who cited a report from the GAO that said the U.S. has “operational control” over less than one percent of America’s 6,400-kilometer border with Canada.
“The term ‘operational control’ is a very narrow term of art,” Napolitano said. “And it does not reflect the infrastructure and technology and all the other things that happen at the border, and so it should not be used as a substitute for an overall border strategy.”
Testifying before the House homeland security committee, she also ruled out the possibility that U.S. customs agents might be located in Canada to pre-clear goods heading across the Peace Bridge, one of the busiest crossings along the border.
