Thread: BP Agent: We aren't doing as good a job as we should be

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20 ... 035069.asp

EDWARD DUDA, BORDER PATROL AGENT: "We aren't doing as good a job as we should be ... The northern border is being neglected."

By DAN HERBECK
News Staff Reporter
3/4/2006

The United States government is going to have to protect its northern border without Edward Duda.
The colorful and sometimes outspoken Buffalo native has retired as the deputy chief patrol agent in the U.S. Border Patrol's Buffalo Sector. He spent 30 years with the agency.

Duda said he leaves the job with many good memories - but also with some serious concerns about security at the U.S.-Canada border.

"If I wasn't retiring, they'd probably fire me for saying this," he said in a recent interview. "But we aren't doing as good a job as we should be . . . not because of the people in the field, but because of the people in Washington.

"After 9/11, the spotlight was on the northern border, but not anymore. We aren't getting the resources we need here. The northern border is being neglected."

In Duda's view, the federal government has fallen short on some of the public promises made after the catastrophes of 9/11. He worries that illegal aliens are continuing to cross into the United States from Canada, and authorities have no way of knowing if any of the illegals are terrorists.

He cites the following problems:

• The Buffalo Border Patrol sector, which covers a 341-mile stretch from Erie, Pa., to Watertown, is understaffed by about 20 percent. The sector is supposed to have 145 agents, but only 117 positions are filled.

• Plans for the installation of an elaborate network of surveillance cameras mounted on towers have been aborted. The government intended to install 14 of the cameras along the U.S.-Canada border, but only four were built. Duda said the cameras that are working have been an invaluable help to agents, allowing them to monitor huge areas.

• The Border Patrol is making a major mistake by not promoting more agents over the age of 50 to supervisory positions. He said the agency is failing to take full advantage of the knowledge and experience of longtime agents.

Duda admits some of his frustration is fueled by being passed over for a promotion, which he claims was because of his age. He is 55 and could have worked for two more years before reaching mandatory retirement age.

"I understand that the government faces its biggest problems on the southern border, and that's where they're putting their resources," Duda said. "But we have problems that need to be addressed, too . . . I don't want to see any terrorists coming in from Canada."

Salvador Zamora, the Border Patrol's national spokesman, said Duda has been an excellent agent, but he disagreed with his criticisms. Zamora said the southern border is a more serious problem and requires more agents.

In the fiscal year ending last Sept. 30, there were 1.2 million arrests at the southern border, and 7,345 at the northern border, he said.

"We've focused on the southern border, without a doubt," Zamora said. "But we're now exceeding 1,000 agents at the northern border . . . compared to about 700 before 9/11."

The installation of surveillance cameras was delayed because of problems with contractors, but the program is favored by Homeland Security and the project will be resumed, Zamora said.

The government spokesman said Duda is simply wrong about his allegations of age discrimination in promotions.

"I know of a number of people over 50 who have been promoted . . . into key positions," Zamora said.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has promised to make northern border security improvements a priority for his agency, which oversees the Border Patrol. It is rare for a Border Patrol agent - even a retiring one - to go public with concerns about security, but Duda is not alone. In the past year, several lawmakers, including Democratic Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, have raised concerns about staffing and funding of security measures at the northern border.

"The northern border gets scant attention compared to the border with Mexico, but [it] presents a significant threat to our security from illicit drugs and terrorism," Schumer said after a meeting with Chertoff last year.

Duda said he hopes his remarks will not leave the impression he is not proud of the Border Patrol or his government career.

"The people I've worked with, at both borders, have been tremendous," Duda said.

A native of Buffalo's East Side, he joined the Border Patrol in 1976 after serving as a military policeman in the Army and working as a guard at Attica State Correctional Facility.

He spent the first three years of his career chasing illegal aliens and drug smugglers in El Paso, Texas. There, Duda said, he learned about the dangers faced by agents at the southern border.

"You really had to keep your eyes open. More than once, I was shot at by snipers when I got out of my car," Duda recalled. But in Texas, Duda also saw heartbreaking incidents that remind him that most illegal aliens are not hardened criminals, but poor people chasing their dreams.

Duda transferred to duty in New York State in 1979, and he has worked the northern border ever since. He was appointed to his job in Buffalo in 2002.

"When people asked me why I did this job, why I worked weekends and nights for all those years, I would point to that article," he said of a newspaper clipping he keeps that lists how many people were killed and injured in the attacks of 9/11. "We're out here trying to stop another 9/11."


e-mail: dherbeck@buffnews.com

We need thousands of Americans on these borders....a WALL OF AMERICANS....