Criminal Justice & the Rule of Law

Border Security Today

Paul Rosenzweig
Friday, October 10, 2014, 1:55 PM
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson gave a very useful speech earlier this week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  Entitled "Border Security in the 21st Century," it provides a detailed overview of how our effort to secure the border (most notably, of course, the southwestern border) has matured in this century.  The entire text is well worth a read, but some highlights include:
  • More than doubling the number of Border Patrol agents since 20
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DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson gave a very useful speech earlier this week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  Entitled "Border Security in the 21st Century," it provides a detailed overview of how our effort to secure the border (most notably, of course, the southwestern border) has matured in this century.  The entire text is well worth a read, but some highlights include:
  • More than doubling the number of Border Patrol agents since 2000
  • A near 10-fold increase in border fencing since 2002
  • Very large increases in technology deployed, ranging from night goggles to unmanned aerial vehicles, with everything in between.
Indeed, the only question I really have about the speech is the boundary conditions set for analysis.  It is appropriate to measure our progress on border security since 2000.  After all, that is the start of the century.  It also allows us to capture accurately the step-function increase in border security focus that occurred as a result of the 9/11 attacks.  But I do also wonder what the data look like for the time period 2009-14 -- i.e. since the start of this Administration?  I have a sense that capital investments have leveled off -- but that's only an anecdotal sense.  Hard data would be most welcome ...
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Paul Rosenzweig

Paul Rosenzweig

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Paul Rosenzweig is the founder of Red Branch Consulting PLLC, a homeland security consulting company. He formerly served as a senior advisor to The Chertoff Group and deputy assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security. He is a professorial lecturer in law at George Washington University, a senior fellow in the Tech, Law & Security program at American University, and a board member of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy.
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