National Forest Border Areas Vulnerable to Terrorist Entry

merican forests along the borders with Canada and Mexico are unguarded wildernesses where terrorists can infiltrate at will, according to a new report from the inspector general of the Agriculture Department.

Despite its tough talk about “homeland security," the federal government has only a small number of Forest Service officers patrolling the 1,000 miles of border that run through national forest land, even though more than a year and a half has passed since Sept. 11.

"Border security is an essential element of national security, especially in light of the terrorist attacks," said the report released last month.

The Forest Service has only 620 officers to monitor 196.1 million acres of national forest land. As a result, national forests are "potentially vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists, smugglers, and other criminal agents," the report said.

For security reasons, the report did not reveal the specific number of officers assigned to monitor 910 miles of forest land bordering Canada, or the 60 miles of forest bordering Mexico, but it noted that only a "relatively small number" of officers patrol the areas.

The U.S. Border Patrol, which has general responsibility for border security, can offer only limited assistance in national forests because of internal policies and geographic restrictions on Border Patrol agents' activity on public land.

The Forest Service itself operates under some restrictions, too. In general, agents cannot arrest people entering the U.S. illegally unless they are breaking another law specifically enforced by the agency.

The report detailing America's vulnerable forested border areas is the latest in a series of surveys and investigations by federal agencies that found significant gaps in border security. Although in the post-9-11 era, Congress has passed legislation granting vast new powers to federal police agencies such as the FBI to investigate private citizens, Congress has so far refused to use the military to guard the U.S. border. Instead, Congress has authorized only modest hiring increases for the woefully understaffed Border

In February, Middle American News reported on a study commissioned by the old Immigration and Naturalization Service that found as many as 5.45 million aliens illegally enter the country at border checkpoints by simply fooling INS inspectors with fake or doctored travel documents such as passports and visas. That number did not include the estimated 6 million illegal aliens who sneak into the U.S. undetected along the thousands of miles of unmanned border areas.

The study said overworked U.S. personnel at border entry points are able to spend only a minute or two glancing at a passport, visa, or a border-crossing card as they grant admission to a foreigner. Random back-up checks designed to test inspector's efficiency show a very low rate of success in spotting illegals.
Computer background checks of foreigners admitted at border checkpoints found "several million" foreigners whose backgrounds should have triggered a denial of entry. Current screening procedures fail to detect travelers with criminal or potential terrorist backgrounds because border inspectors do not have immediate access to computerized databases.

More than 500 million foreign travelers enter the U.S. each year. The study found that 47 of every 5,614 travelers are erroneously allowed to enter, and that border personnel are able to stop only 9 to 16 percent of those ineligible for legal entry.

The U.S. relies on just 9,000 Border Patrol agents to protect a nation's estimated 4,000 miles of borders. A recent study by the University of Texas found that nearly twice that many, 16,000 agents, are needed to adequately patrol the southwest border alone. The Association of Chief Patrol Agents says the U.S. needs 20,000 border agents.

Currently, about 7,500 agents patrol the 2,000 mile border with Mexico, but only a few hundred patrol the much longer border with Canada.

The report from the inspector general of the Agriculture Department also faulted the Forest Service for laxity in securing weaponry and explosives in storage buildings on federal land. The same study authors expressed concern about storage of air tanker planes used to fight wildfires. Without increased oversight and security measures, terrorists could steal the planes and spray harmful bio-chemical agents, they warned. The report said the service should begin immediately coordinating security efforts in national forest border areas with the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies such as the FBI and the Customs Service.

A spokesman for the Forest Service told CNN.com that the agency will need additional financial resources to increase its security functions as recommended in the report.