GAO reports persistent risks at borders

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Serious national security weaknesses still plague the nation's border inspection system and ports of entry, increasing the potential for terrorists, criminals and illegal goods to enter the country undetected, according to testimony provided in a Government Accountability Office report this month.

Richard Stana, the GAO's Homeland Security and Justice director, stated in the report — based on testimony he gave to the House Homeland Security Committee — that video surveillance and investigations at eight ports of entry revealed significant security risks and failures.

"Without checking the identity, citizenship, and admissibility of travelers, there is an increased potential that dangerous people and inadmissible goods may enter the country and cause harm to American citizens and the economy," Mr. Stana said. "Alien smuggling organizations have been aware of weaknesses in CBP's inspection procedures and they have trained operatives to take advantage of these weaknesses."

Mr. Stana's testimony this month is based on the November GAO report "Border Security, Despite Progress, Weaknesses in Traveler Inspections Exist at our Nation's Ports of Entry."

A review of videotapes from 150 large and small ports of entry in mid-2006 found numerous vulnerabilities in traveler inspection procedures. The videotapes showed CBP officers in one instance waving in vehicles into the U.S. "without stopping the vehicle or interviewing the driver or its passengers as required."

Other examples showed motorcycles passing through inspection lanes without stopping and making any contact with an officer. The report also noted that CBP officers waved traffic through the lane while they were replacing another officer getting off duty and that at times CBP inspectors waved pedestrians through the lane without looking at them, making verbal contact, or inspecting travel documents.

CBP spokesman Michael Friel said that the agency is taking seriously Mr. Stana's testimony and working to correct the problems.

"We are facing challenges head on with important initiatives both at and between our ports of entry," Mr. Friel said in reference to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires travelers to present a passport or other documentation that denotes identity and citizenship when entering the U.S. "We're certainly moving as an agency with a sense of urgency. We're moving smarter to get the right technology [and] hiring the right personnel."

Despite the progress made by CBP since the September 11 terrorist attacks — including the installation of additional technology that aided in inspecting vehicles for smuggled aliens, illicit cargo and checking traveler documents against law-enforcement databases — CBP concluded "that several thousand inadmissible aliens and other violators entered the country at air and land ports of entry in fiscal year 2006."

Numerous CBP agents and inspectors interviewed by The Washington Times said the number of illegal entries may be much greater than "several thousand" reported by their own agency.

In September, The Times disclosed internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection documents ordering CBP inspectors in El Paso, Texas, to abbreviate national security checks to speed up travel between the U.S. and Mexico to relieve commerce delays.

Mr. Stana noted in his testimony that CBP inspectors have "a difficult task given the high volume of travelers and goods" and frequently carry out their responsibilities "with little time to make decisions about admitting individuals into the country because they also face pressure to facilitate the cross-border movement of millions of legitimate travelers and billions of dollars in international trade."