The USA must have an Effective Defense along all Borders
By Jerry Brewer

It is imperative for a savvy democratic nation and generation to understand that escalating international crime, violence, and terrorist threats affect the nation as a whole. These threats, and the necessary security to deter these attacks, are certainly no less important than environmental concerns.

And such terrorist threats, as well as the illicit trafficking in arms, narcotics and human beings, and the laundering of illegal proceeds to sustain diabolical endeavors, demand solutions and collective efforts to combat them.

The protection of the U.S. border against this scourge of criminal insurgents plays a pivotal role in the overall international crime-fighting strategy, as many democratic nations look to the United States for its leadership and compassion.

The United States requires and demands defense of its public land, sea and air frontiers against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

It is now becoming abundantly clear to many, who have buried their heads in the sand over the word "terrorism," that this menace has blossomed into established links with drug trafficking organizations. Too, illicit and sophisticated killing weapons are their tools of their trade, as well as a mechanism for establishing their control, power, and reign of terror.

The drug trafficking link to terrorists, due to the astronomical amounts of financial proceeds, was after all an expected marriage of convenience that would unite disparate insurgents, regardless of ethnicity, race, or religious ideologies. What better plan or conspiracy than to provide your enemy with their drug of choice for massive profits, as the unwitting customer contributes monetarily to his own destruction as well as that of his homeland? This certainly is a victory for the united terrorist apparatus that professes to have the last laugh via jihad.

What do we call upon the U.S. government to do about our plight? What do we do as a nation to unite in concern over these issues of homeland security?

A concerned nation will unite to a cause that is real and demand action. Safeguarding our nation's borders is our government's fundamental and essential responsibility. Priorities must be assigned, a strategic plan designed and established, and the appropriate forces and resources marshaled and deployed to action in a timely manner.

The United States, due to illegal immigration and the increased violence on our southern border, may now be turning a blind eye to the north. The U.S.-Canadian border is the "most open free trade border in the world." The stark reality is that homeland security on the northern border means protection and interdiction that requires security along a total of 9,600 land and sea miles (air space is not included in that assessment).

Homeland security is an awesome and complex set of operational acts that requires an integrated management effort of a myriad of necessary and integral components. This necessity is to mitigate risk and effectively respond to the infrastructure and needs of the states.

Terrorists require organization as their first act, and terrorism as their second stage. They use strategic vision that includes an incredible patience in their planning and in assessing security of their target(s). They conduct exhaustive surveillance to monitor and test the strengths, vulnerabilities, preparedness, response, and will of their adversaries.

Terrorists will also attempt to seize, exploit, and control the role of government and police by their reign of assassination, violence, and terror. Mexico, by virtue of the drug cartel's links to terrorism, is in the midst of this experience, with a figure of over 50% of Mexico's cities described as "under the control of organized crime" by UN consultant Edgardo Buscaglia.

The effectiveness of U.S. border security will not be properly assessed by the numbers of illegal immigrants that cross. Migration is historical and the numbers are massive. Cubans have recently numbered around 11,500 entering the U.S. from Mexico and other points south.

Proper security assessment requires the tracking of border breaches that pose imminent threats to the lives of the public at large and the infrastructure as a whole. The massive attention to illegal immigrants on the southern border has ironically forced the organized criminal insurgents/traffickers to vary their land, sea and air routes and points of entry to safeguard their contraband.

The U.S. military role and support in homeland security is intently noted and needed. And immediate response to actionable intelligence is necessary.

The sad truth is that the United States is vulnerable to disaster, and its overall well-being faces vulnerabilities that are greater than anything encountered in the past 200 years. The drug traffickers are highly organized, well financed and trained, heavily armed insurgents at this point – and they pose a critical threat to the sovereignty and security of the United States of America.
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