Thread: Tunnel on Border Highlights Fears of Smuggling by Terrorists

Tunnel on Mexican border highlights fears of smuggling by terrorists
By: Sara A. Carter
National Security Correspondent
November 8, 2010

By Sara A. Carter

The Washington Examiner

The discovery of a sophisticated tunneling system on the U.S.-Mexican border has caused intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the Southwest to increase their alert status.

The concern for security officials is twofold: They are trying to avoid a spillover of the spiraling drug violence in Mexico that has been characterized by beheadings and shootouts. At the same time authorities tell The Washington Examiner that Islamic extremist groups are eyeing the porous border as the easiest way to smuggle terrorists into the country.

"Our number one concern is national security," said a senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the 1,800 foot tunnel discovered in California. "The vulnerability created by the tunnel being used by terrorist organizations is there."

One official involved in anti-terrorism efforts referred to a 2006 Department of Homeland Security intelligence report that revealed al Qaeda was recruiting citizens in Central America. "It's very concerning when you have a border that allows for anyone to cross over," the official added.

The official said that Pakistanis, Somalis, Arabs and others are continuing to use the border for entry into the United States, and it appears the number of those entering with potential ties to Islamic extremism is on the rise.

"The threat is worldwide," the official noted. "It is not just people from Pakistan fleeing floods, or India -- we have to look at it as a worldwide threat, identifying the specific threat and not just populations."

A Border Patrol agent interviewed by The Examiner said that despite the Administration's promises, border security is still not taken as seriously as it should be.

"Some of our officials still don't get it, but the threat made by al Qaeda, along with the cargo bomb threat, should force federal and local law enforcement officials to take seriously the possibility of terrorist organizations using the porous border to transport materials or people across them without being noticed," the Border Patrol officer said.

The administration has deployed 1,070 National Guard personnel to the southwest border -- the majority of which, 524, are in Arizona, said Mark Qualia, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection.

Qualia said all national security risks are taken seriously and that the National Guard has a "combination of duties, as intelligence analysts, deployment for manning and controlling RVS (remote video surveillance) sites where they are helping to operate camera rooms and they are at fix sites with towers."

A smaller percentage, known as Entry Identification Teams, are "forward deployed at listening and observation points, manning over-site areas and reporting radio information to agents on the ground," Qualia added.

So far, U.S. intelligence agencies have been limited in releasing or speaking publicly about the possibility that tunnels, such as the more sophisticated one discovered in San Diego, could be used to move terror cells or weapons into the United Sates.

Increased threats from U.S.-Yemeni radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico and leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have continued. In a video released Monday and translated by SITE, which monitors jihadist web sites, Awlaki called for the deaths of Americans "without hesitation."

"Do not consult anyone in killing Americans," Awlaki said in a 23-minute video. "Killing the devil does not need any Fatwa."

Those words are particularly chilling when seen in the context of known efforts by extremists to penetrate the U.S. border.

Last year a video surfaced on Al Jazeera network showing al Qaeda recruiter Abdullah al-Nafisi telling a room full of supporters in Bahrain that the terrorist group was casing the border with Mexico to assess how to send terrorists and weapons into the United States.

"Four pounds of anthrax -- in a suitcase this big -- carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S., are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there," the recruiter said. "What a horrifying idea; 9/11 will be small change in comparison. Am I right? There is no need for airplanes, conspiracies, timings and so on."

U.S. officials take such threats seriously. "It is only realistic to believe that an American-born terrorist who knows the border region would have already thought of the possibility of using it for the purposes of terrorist activity," a Border Patrol agent said.

Sara A. Carter is The Washington Examiner's national security correspondent. She can be reached at scarter@washingtonexaminer.com.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/world ... 19013.html

I wish the people to listen id rather not see america attacked again. If they ever did anything like 9/11 id hope that all the suvivors familys come together and sue the shit out our goverment for not taking the closing of our boarders serously I hope all the people who got in the way of the boarders being closed get treated as they so desrve as outcast with no country no benifits nothing! Every other month you hear stories like this even if they are made up I rather see my counrty error on the side of caution to protect it self than to watch another attack happen!