Border Patrol focus has been detection, apprehension and/or deterrence of terrorists and terrorist weapons (Securing America’s Borders). 2011). The duties and responsibilities of the Border Patrol is one of the most important jobs and it is to detect and prevent the entry of illegal immigrants, terrorists, and smugglers into the United States. The amount of travellers that come through the United States, the trade that the United States engage in, and the number of immigrants entering the United States makes us a target for terrorist attacks from different angles. The Department of Homeland Security was created to deal with and address the threat of international terrorism (Securing America’s Borders). The priority mission of this department is homeland security. The Hart-Rudman Commission had three innovations they were trying to accomplish. The first of which the commission thought the United States needed to push its borders outward, developing what it called a “layered defense” (Alden, 2009, p. 39). The senators thought that the U.S. needs to work more with foreign countries to try to identify threats and/or terrorists before they arrive in the U.S. Secondly, the commission recommended the government need to work with companies, mainly private shipping companies, who ships goods or products to other countries or around the world (Alden, p. 39). This would help not only the government but the companies involved in order to try to prohibit them (the companies) from becoming a sort of accomplice in carrying out a criminal or terroristic act (Alden, p. 39). The last innovation or recommendation and perhaps the most important to the commission is to have new and much better intelligence gathering, data handling, and information sharing among government agencies so that our border security officials and others involved for border security would be better able to target high risk goods and persons who could and
References: Working for Border Patrol. (2010). Securing America’s Border. CBP.gov Alden, E. (2009). The closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration and Security since 9/11. Harper Collins Publisher INS: Immigration and Naturalization Service. (2010). US Immigration Support. U.S. Department of Justice. Washington, DC Krepinevich, A.F., Vickers, M. G., and Kosiak, S.M., (2000). Hart-Rudman commission report-a-critique. Backgrounder. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Washington, DC Mauldin, J. (2010). Mexico and the failed state revisited. InvestigatorsInsight.com Miller, T. Blurring the Boundaries between Immigration and Crime Control after September 11. Law Review Journal Potter, M. (2009). Crossing the border: Mexico’s deadly drug war. NBC News Correspondent Reichbach, M. (2010). GAO reports show billions crossing border to drug cartels each year. The New Mexico Independent Skinner, C.D. (2006). USAWC Strategy Research Project: Illegal immigration across the U.S. – Mexico border. Department of Army