Northern Border Security Hearings Committee on Appropriations United States Senate
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S. HRG. 107–341 NORTHERN BORDER SECURITY HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SPECIAL HEARING OCTOBER 3, 2001—WASHINGTON, DC DECEMBER 5, 2001—WASHINGTON, DC Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 77–844 PDF WASHINGTON : 2002 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania TOM HARKIN, Iowa PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri HARRY REID, Nevada MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CONRAD BURNS, Montana PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JACK REED, Rhode Island MIKE DEWINE, Ohio TERRY SAUVAIN, Staff Director CHARLES KIEFFER, Deputy Staff Director STEVEN J. CORTESE, Minority Staff Director LISA SUTHERLAND, Minority Deputy Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, Chairman BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama JACK REED, Rhode Island MIKE DEWINE, Ohio ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia TED STEVENS, Alaska (ex officio) (ex officio) Professional Staff CHIP WALGREN NICOLE RUTBERG PAT RAYMOND (Minority) LULA EDWARDS (Minority) (II) CONTENTS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2001 Page Statement of Robert C. Bonner, Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service, Depart- ment of Treasury .................................................................................................. 1 Opening statement of Senator Byron L. Dorgan ................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Mike DeWine ....................................................................... 4 Statement of Senator Patrick J. Leahy ................................................................. 4 Statement of Senator Conrad Burns ...................................................................... 5 Statement of Robert C. Bonner .............................................................................. 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 Statement of James W. Ziglar, Commissioner, Immigration and Naturaliza- tion Service, Department of Justice ................................................................... 12 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 15 Statement of Senator Patty Murray ...................................................................... 19 Prepared statement of Colleen Kelley, President, National Treasury Employ- ees Union .............................................................................................................. 42 Prepared statement of Senator Carl Levin ............................................................ 43 Questions submitted by Senator Byron L. Dorgan ............................................... 44 Questions submitted by Senator Barbara A. Mikulski ......................................... 52 Questions submitted by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell ................................ 52 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2001 Opening statement of Senator Byron L. Dorgan ................................................... 55 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 57 Statement of Hon. Charles Schumer, U.S. Senator from New York ................... 58 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 60 Statement of Hon. Debbie Stabenow, U.S. Senator from Michigan .................... 61 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 63 Statement of Hon. John Hoeven, Governor, State of North Dakota ................... 66 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 68 Statement of Hon. Howard Dean, Governor, State of Vermont ........................... 70 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 72 Statement of Hon. Dick Posthumus, Lieutenant Governor, State of Michigan .. 72 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 76 Statement of Hon. Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Senator from New York ....... 78 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 79 Statement of Major General Timothy J. Lowenberg, Chairman, Homeland Security, Adjutants General Association of the United States ........................ 81 Statement of Major General Michael Haugen, Adjutant General of North Dakota ................................................................................................................... 81 Prepared statement of Senator Carl Levin ............................................................ 84 Prepared statement of Senator Judd Gregg .......................................................... 86 Prepared statement of Judy Martz, Governor, State of Montana ....................... 87 Prepared statement of Gary Locke, Governor, State of Washington .................. 89 Prepared statement of George E. Pataki, Governor, State of New York ............ 92 (III) NORTHERN BORDER SECURITY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2001 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT, COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 9:32 a.m., in room SD–192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Byron L. Dorgan (chairman) pre- siding. Present: Senators Dorgan and DeWine. Also present: Burns, Leahy, and Murray. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE STATEMENT OF ROBERT C. BONNER, COMMISSIONER OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BYRON L. DORGAN Senator DORGAN. This hearing will come to order. This is the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal and General Government of the Senate Appropriations Committee. We welcome the two witnesses who have joined us, Commissioner Bonner, the Customs Commis- sioner, and Commissioner Ziglar, the Commissioner of the Immi- gration Service. This hearing is to discuss the issue of border security, and espe- cially today we will talk about northern border security. It is my intention to hold a series of hearings on border security. While there are questions and interesting things to talk about a wide range of security issues dealing with our borders, I want to espe- cially this morning at today’s hearing talk about northern border security. All of us know that the tragic events of September 11 have per- suaded this country that we must do much, much more to make sure that we protect the security of our country. A country cannot and will not be secure unless it has secure borders. We are a free country with substantial traffic, and freight, and people coming across our border, and we do not want to change that. By the same token, we want to make sure that we keep out of this country those who are not supposed to come in, and especially that we are vigi- lant in trying to determine and detect those who are suspected ter- rorists who we want to prevent from coming into our country. Both of the agencies that will testify here today stand on the front lines of protecting our borders. In my home State of North (1) 2 Dakota, and my colleagues at the dais all represent States that border Canada on the northern side, we have remote border cross- ings. Every day we have a few people, in most cases one or two people, standing guard, vigilant in trying to make sure that those borders are secure. The agencies here stand shoulder to shoulder at our border sta- tions. I was at one in Pembina, North Dakota on the United States- Canadian border last Friday and I must tell you that those who are serving our country at these remote sites at the ports of entry be- tween the United States and Canada are very committed and serve our country very well. They carry out a very substantial task for this Nation, to ensure the safety of our republic by protecting our borders. As I said, if we do not have basic control of our borders then we stand very little chance, in my judgment, of keeping ter- rorists out of this country. I have long believed that the northern border of our country is particularly vulnerable and I want to talk about that today. The northern border extends nearly 4,000 miles, and as I have stated many times, it is woefully understaffed. I was at the port of entry in Pembina when I heard loud and clear, not only from Federal workers at Pembina but also local law enforcement agencies that they just need more people. Kittson County, Minnesota Sheriff Ray Hunt said, a big part of the solution is to put more people out here.