Secretary Napolitano Confirms Operations During Congressional Testimony

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said during testimony Tuesday before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary that three Predator B UAS's are operating in a border patrol capacity along the boder of Texas and Mexico.

The committee has oversight responsibility over DHS.

The Predators are part of a multi-faceted approach to border security in the nation's southwest. "Thanks to investments that have been made in other technology at the border, CBP currently has a total of 21 low energy mobile imaging systems deployed to our ports of entry along the Southwest border. Two more systems will be deployed to our Southwest border ports of entry by the end of June 2010," Napolitano said. "Since receiving its first Predator B Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) in 2005, CBP has increased the number of Predators Bs based along the Southwest border to three."

Predator B File Photo

Along with the UAS's, DHS operates a number of fixed and rotary wing assets in an effort to secure the border from illegal immigration and smuggling. For instance, last month, rancher Robert Krentz was killed on his landin southeastern Arizona, "most likely by a person who was in the U.S. illegally and was connected to cross-border smuggling," Napolitano said. "DHS responded immediately to the murder. Immediately following the shooting, CBP deployed additional helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to the area of the murder. Border Patrol trackers located the footprint sign of the suspect and tracked him back into Mexico. The Border Patrol dispatched additional mobile surveillance systems to the area and supplemented regular manned aerial surveillance with two new helicopter flights per day. CBP also transferred additional Border Patrol agents into the area around Douglas, Arizona, for a total of more than 100 agents. These include teams on horseback and on all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) that can operate across the area's desert terrain."

Secretary Napolitano

Napolitano said the technology is supplemented by a large increase in human resources. "(O)ver the past year, DHS doubled the number of agents working on Border Enforcement Security Task Forces (BESTs) in the Southwest border region," she said. "BESTs are law enforcement task forces that combine federal, state, local, and international personnel to tackle border crime – including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Attorney's Offices, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and state, local, tribal and foreign law enforcement agencies. The BEST model has proven extremely effective not only at interdicting illegal activity, but also at building criminal cases that lead to high-value prosecutions. Doubling DHS personnel assigned to Southwest border BESTs has aided an increase in contraband seizures over the past year and has helped make the enforcement actions DHS undertakes more strategically focused and effective."

The Secretary told the committee that the efforts are producing results. She said that in the first year of the Southwest Border Initiative, seizures of contraband rose in every major category – cash, drugs, and weapons – compared to the year before, while illegal crossings continued to decline.

FMI: www.dhs.gov