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 News from Around the Americas | September 2007 
Border Fails the Test of Undercover U.S. Investigators
 CBC News
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Undercover American investigators who snuck duffel bags across the U.S.-Canada border have concluded that a smuggler could easily carry radioactive material or other contraband from one country to the other.
The Government Accountability Office, an investigative branch of the U.S. Congress, sent out investigators to test how hard it would be to transfer large red duffel bags at unguarded and unmonitored spots along the 8,000-kilometre border.
The tests were done from four northern states, which were not identified. The exercises were videotaped and photographed.
The details of the investigation were outlined in a 13-page report that will be given to Congress.
During one of the tests, a citizen noticed the unusual activity and alerted a border official, but by the time authorities came to the scene, they could not locate the undercover investigators.
"Our work shows that a determined cross-border violator would likely be able to bring radioactive materials or other contraband undetected into the United States by crossing the U.S.-Canada border at any of the locations we investigated," the accountability office report states.
Investigators determined that the Canadian border with the United States "presents more of a challenge" than the U.S.-Mexico border.
The report notes that as of May, there were only 972 U.S. Border Patrol agents on the Canadian border and 11,986 agents on the Mexican border.
Investigators examined the southern border and said they observed a significant number of U.S. National Guard troops and U.S. Border Patrol personnel while driving on state roads, but found little law-enforcement presence on vast stretches of surrounding lands managed by the U.S. government.
Investigators said for security reasons they did not conduct the duffel bag tests at the U.S.-Mexico border.
It is illegal to cross the border at any place other than an official port of entry. |
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