http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/15174450.htm

Posted on Tue, Aug. 01, 2006

Lawmakers told security at Canadian border is lacking


By Tamara Audi

Detroit Free Press

(MCT)

DETROIT - He wasn't wearing a dark blue military uniform or a gray Washington power suit.

Dan Lane's white, short-sleeved shirt alone would have helped the St. Clair County sheriff to stand out at Tuesday's congressional hearing on U.S. northern border security at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Mich.

But there also was Lane's language, shockingly free of phrases like "facilitating global supply chains" that tend to make such hearings numbing. And there was his message, direct and clear as the miles of lakes and rivers he patrols: Local law enforcement is being dangerously overlooked in the debate over border security.

"I'm surrounded by a lot of very important people here, but I'd like to say, who is the first responder in a 9-11 attack? It's your local police officer," Lane told members of the House Armed Services Committee. "We need to have interoperability with other agencies. We do not have that. We need to address it."

Though radio communication between state and federal agencies has improved in the last few years, witnesses testified, federal and state law enforcement officials are still unable to communicate with local police and fire departments. That becomes a problem, Lane said, especially along the border with Canada.

Lane told committee members that two years ago, he gave 14 radios to Michigan U.S. Border Patrol agents so they could communicate with St. Clair deputies on the same frequency. And he said the federal government reimburses the county for only staffing, not for the use of local resources like radios, boats, gasoline and jail space.

Other panelists testified about what has long been known among U.S. border officials: that the 4,000-mile span attracts illegal immigrants and drug smugglers and is vulnerable to terror cells from Canada, but gets only a fraction of the resources the border with Mexico receives.

Last year, U.S. Border Patrol in Michigan arrested about 1,300 people crossing the Canadian border illegally.

California Republican Duncan Hunter, who chairs the committee, said committee member Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., requested the Michigan hearing to win more attention for northern border needs.

Hunter, who said he became more familiar with northern border issues after the nearly four-hour hearing, had asked if measures used along the border with Mexico - such as a security wall or patrols by National Guard troops - would help in the north.

But officials from the U.S. Coast Guard, Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection pushed for a "virtual wall," using technology like sensors and drones to monitor the border.

Representatives from Selfridge also advocated a plan to expand the base for use by the Department of Homeland Security.

Miller said she would use the testimony to draw up a plan to present to her committee this fall.

"You don't have the massive problem we have on the southern border, but it's clear we have work to do here," Hunter said.

Turning to Sheriff Lane as he closed the hearing, Hunter said with a chuckle: "Sheriff, I think we know what you want."