Security Debate Draws Attention to U.S. Border With Canada U.S. strengthens surveillance at northern border By Chester Dawson
http://www.wsj.com/articles/security-debate-draws-attention-to-u-s-border-with-canada-1472753008
WESTBY, Mont.—The U.S. border with Canada is attracting greater scrutiny as debate rages in the U.S. presidential campaign about security on its southern border with Mexico, and concern grows over global terrorism and vulnerability to illegal crossings.
The U.S. government has been steadily beefing up surveillance of the northern border with new technology designed to help monitor areas too remote for round-the-clock patrols by field agents. Much of the change comes from the gradual rollout of new technologies that were promised in the aftermath of a security reassessment following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D., N.D.) this year called on the Department of Homeland Security to pay closer attention to the northern border and not view it as an “afterthought.” Last year, she co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) to step up funding for recruiting more border agents to specifically target more remote areas along the border with Canada.
Some lawmakers in northern border states cite Canada’s greater willingness to accept refugees from war-torn areas such as the Middle East as a potential threat to the U.S. In particular, they note the Canadian government has resettled more than 25,000 Syrians since November 2015, more than double the 10,000 Syrian refugees that the U.S. has agreed to take in by September. A U.S. Senate homeland security hearing addressed the topic in February, but there have been no reported U.S. border incidents involving Canada’s Syrian refugees.
“I do worry about it,” said Mike Cuffe, a state legislator in Montana who lives about 4 miles from the border in the town of Eureka.
Mr. Cuffe harbors concerns about the possibility of terrorist infiltration from the north, but says that must be balanced with other issues such as the hit to commerce and road congestion caused by backups at a border crossing with Canada that once was guarded by little more than wooden sawhorses at night.
“A threat to one country is a threat to the other,” said Christine Constantin, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Embassy in Washington, adding that Canada has a “zero tolerance” policy for refugees with security concerns.
“No terrorists have been successful in attacking the homeland coming through America’s northern border,” she said. CONTINUE AT SITE
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