Page 21 - Flathead Beacon // 9.9.15

Border Patrol agents Brian Debrita and Chris Woywod zip across the North Fork Flathead River at the Canadian border while heading out on patrol. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
BARELY FOUR HOURS SOUTH OF
Calgary, U.S. Border Patrol agents in Montana are paying attention.
“It’s been on the radar for awhile but it seems to be increasing,” Richard Strat- ton, patrol agent in charge of the White- fish Border Patrol station, said of the threat of religious extremists entering Montana and the U.S. through Canada.
“It’s a concern. It’s definitely on my list of things I’m worried about. I don’t want the public to be paranoid, but it’s a differ- ent world now.”
Indeed, the post-9/11 world is unparalleled.
Fourteen years ago, the attacks on
Sept. 11, 2001 illustrated the tragic tran- sition of a terrorist threat becoming real- ity. The 9/11 attacks triggered retaliation overseas and sparked government policy changes, similar to those taking place in Canada.
The attacks also exposed vulnerability along the northern border.
Just before 9/11, there were 2,300 Bor- der Patrol agents guarding the U.S.-Can- ada border, and many sections were left wholly unfortified, according to govern- ment reports. The customs station at Goat Haunt was closed immediately afterward and trans-border travel was prohib- ited at the site after being identified as a
possible gap for illegal entries. It was later reopened in 2003.
On the Senate floor in July 2003, then-U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., pronounced the importance of guarding the northern border and improving tech- nology and other means of defending the remote sections. He proposed legislation for additional funding for Border Patrol resources, including increased infra- structure and staffing.
“(Glacier National Park) has sharp mountains and rugged peaks: It is wil- derness but also an area that requires increased resources to monitor because it is so difficult to monitor that part of the
border,” Baucus said.
Montana shares the longest section of
border with Canada in the continental U.S., 545 miles. Forty miles of that border cuts through the rugged, mountainous terrain of Glacier Park, which is guarded by Border Agents stationed in Whitefish and Havre.
“If we do not increase the personnel needs for border security, we will cer- tainly continue to see more individuals who will enter our country through the remote areas of the border, particularly in my state of Montana,” Baucus said. “We don’t like it. We are very concerned.”
The Government Accountability Office
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Montana Dragon Boat Races
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SEPT. 9-14 EXCLUDING SNOW BOOTS.
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