Returning vets and military tech could be deployed to border

Veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be heading to the U.S.-Mexico border next.

Seeking to take advantage of the military technology and personnel returning from the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, federal border officials are considering a plan to use these newly freed resources.

In particular U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) hopes to deploy surveillance equipment like blimps, satellite communications, and other technology along with military personnel trained in their use.

On Wednesday, at a House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security hearing lawmakers urged DHS and Defense Department officials to explore plans to adapt military systems for domestic use to prevent illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and other criminal activity along U.S. borders.

DHS leaders welcomed the addition of military technology, but expressed concerns about its actual implementation as it would require additional engineering, staffing, expertise, and resources to fit them in with existing operations.

“The difficulty comes when I bring in a DoD system that I have to plug into my command-and-control system,” said Mark Borkowski, the assistant commissioner for CBP’s Technology Innovation and Acquisition Office.

As an example, Borkowski pointed to blimp-like aerostats, which he considers a promising addition, stating, “I do have to worry about the training and the development of crews to operate them.”

At the hearing Representative Jeff Duncan (R – South Carolina) suggested hiring military personnel as a solution to this problem.

“We’ve got a huge number of personnel coming out of the military as we wind down in theater in Iraq,” Duncan said. “There’s an opportunity there to hire already trained DoD personnel to run these systems.”

Borkowski thought this could be a potential solution, but added that certain elements of the plan still needed to be worked out.

“I think you’re absolutely right,” he said, but “we would need allocation of funds to pay their salaries and we probably would need some kind of expedited authorities to hire them, but that is something we’d be very interested in talking to you about.”