Perry Orders Military Helicopters to Patrol Border

part of 'spillover violence contingency plan'
By Jm Forsyth
Thursday, March 18, 2010

Texas Gov. Rick Perry today ordered military helicopters dispatched to the Rio Grande, even as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she would ‘consider’ the governor’s request to use predator drones as sentinels along the border, 1200 WOAI news reports.



OH-58 and UH-72 Lakota helicopters are part of the first phase of the governor’s ‘spillover violence contingency plan,’ and will be based between Brownsville and El Paso to observe the entire border area. Perry said the exact base of operations will not be disclosed for security reasons.

“As we continue to increase our resources and personnel along the border to combat the threat of spillover violence, we are deploying multiple Texas Military Forces helicopters to the Texas-Mexico border to increase aerial surveillance,â€