Homeland Security agency beefs up force on northern border

A homeland security agency plans to open five new branches along the U.S. northern border in the coming months to counter drugs, illegal immigration and terrorist threats, officials said Friday.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement air and marine operations division plans to open its first new office in Bellingham, Wash., along the Canadian border on Sept. 1, said division director Charles Stallworth. Another branch will open at Plattsburgh, N.Y., followed by three more at locations that are still being determined.

"Our goal is to create in our northern border the same kind of protection and interdiction capability we demonstrate every day along our southern border," Stallworth said during a ceremony at Reagan National Airport in Washington, to display the division's fleet of aircraft and boats.

The new branches will "provide one-hour response anywhere on the border across the northern tier for airspace security and ground support for border control agents," Stallworth said. Each new branch will have 28 officers.

The need for the branches was realized as far back as December 1999 when Ahmed Rassam was caught trying to cross the border in Canada with a car trunk full of explosives, which he reportedly intended to use to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve.

"Within months after that, we had an initial plan to deploy aircraft across the northern border," Stallworth said. "It's taken us a while to get the funding and get approvals to do what we want to do, but we have it now for two of those sites."

Not everyone sensed the urgency of having more northern-border protection prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to Stallworth.

"I think many now recognize, especially in Congress, the need for increased security on the northern border," he said. "There are drugs coming across there, and there are illegal flights. In fact, we have more documented illegal flights in the Northwest coming across … then we have in the Southwest."

Although five official branches will open along the northern border, the division continues to conduct 24-hour operations in the National Capitol Region without a permanent office. Since January 2003, officers from other locations have served temporary assignments lasting eight days in the National Capitol Region, which includes Washington. A few rank-and-file officers acknowledged Friday that serving multiple rotations, even though temporary, away from their home stations and families is stressful.

The division began patrolling the airspace above the National Capitol Region on a full-time basis in January 2003 in partnership with the Defense Department and other agencies. The region covers about 3,000 square miles, including a 15-mile radius of restricted airspace over Washington.

In the six months prior to the division assuming that mission, there were 180 unauthorized incursions into the restriction zone over Washington. In the 16 months since then, the division has launched more than 350 interdiction flights resulting in only 30 illegal intrusions.

"Each of those violators were tracked, identified and investigated," Stallworth said. "Working closely with our Air Force colleagues, [air and marine operations] escorted a number of these intruder aircraft to safety outside the restricted zone."

Friday's ceremony also included the rollout of a new plane to the division's fleet of 130 aircraft. The Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop is intended to replace the aging Cessna C-12 and will enter the field when the Bellingham branch opens. The division bought two PC-12s this year, which cost $6.6 million each when fully loaded, and plans to buy more in fiscal 2005, Stallworth said.

"We have aircraft that do similar surveillance missions but they don't fly as long," he said. "This aircraft can take a small crew to do what it needs to do in one mission, and yet it can carry up to nine fully equipped people to replace them or to relocate them on the northern border if we have inspectors or agents that we need to move."