Terrorist cells too close for comfort

Part II: Drug smugglers turn to northern border

Part I: Guarding America’s border

Third of three parts

BUFFALO, N.Y. - They’re hiding in plain sight, just north of here — a short striking distance away from some of America’s most-vulnerable targets.

This silent army of terrorists, including members of al Qaeda, has the “capability and conviction” to support devastating attacks across North America, operating out of “sleeper cells” from Montreal to Vancouver, according to U.S. and Canadian law-enforcement authorities.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has called the 4,121-mile U.S.-Canada border a “soft spot” for terrorism, and law-enforcement authorities in both countries think that cell members in Canada — and others who have relocated to the United States — are awaiting orders, financing and a window of opportunity to strike again.

And the authorities said the large and growing population of illegal aliens now in the United States gives the would-be terrorists, mostly Islamist extremists, the necessary cover to operate in this country.

“Our mission here is very clear,” said Peter J. Smith, who heads the Office of Investigations for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York. “We need to develop the necessary intelligence to harden our border with Canada, to make sure we can protect this country against terrorists — whatever their source.”

Since the September 11 attacks on America, transforming the northern border from a vulnerability into a hardened line of defense has become the mission of both ICE and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), two new agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.

But it is a complicated task, confounded not only by the region’s immensity but by a long-standing lack of manpower and technology along the border; the absence of effective efforts to track down illegal aliens in the United States; a lax immigration policy in Canada; and the necessity by ICE and CBP to devise an effective border-enforcement strategy.

“As the guardian of our nation’s borders, CBP’s priority mission is to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States,” said CBP Commissioner Robert C. Bonner. “To do this, we are for the first time revising and refocusing our border-enforcement efforts both in the north and the south as part of an aggressive strategy of protection.

“Despite the fact we have almost doubled our staff on the northern border, we are doing more than just adding people. We are adding new techniques and technology, new thinking and a new commitment I believe will significantly enhance our ability to detect, identify and respond to border intrusions,” Mr. Bonner said.

Although terrorists have assumed the major attention of CBP and ICE, the two agencies are still responsible for the detection and apprehension of illegal aliens. Although stemming their flow has been a major concern along the 1,940-mile U.S.-Mexico border, where thousands daily cross into the United States and disappear, it never has been a priority along the northern border.

Story Continues →