.
Consider for a moment, even amidst President Trump’s late night Tweets aimed at allies and foes alike, that our new commander-in-chief truly means to enact an isolationist agenda that seeks to withdraw the United States from its long-held commitments to allies and partners abroad. Impacts abound across multiple channels, from our robust defense alliances, to those that pertain to trade. However, one key question cuts across both his “Make America Great Again” domestic focus and his evolving foreign policy priorities. How do we secure our nation’s borders?
President Trump’s border security intentions have been summed up in a now-famously succinct manner. Build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. But, there are two issues with walling the U.S. away from perceived threats. First, it assumes that our border is a first line of defense behind which we are safe from external threats if we provide billions of dollars of physical infrastructure. Second, it assumes that border security is a unilateral function that can be carried out by the United States alone. What hopefully becomes part of the President’s foreign policy equation is how critically intertwined U.S. border security is with engaging our foreign partners and allies.
It is true in both definition and historical practice that an international border is a physical line in the sand, with implications that are far-reaching—economic, political, security, and human-related. But in a globalized world, the border, and thus border security, has changed. Outside factors, including both commerce and threats, have evolved the notion of a border from a first line of defense to the last. Technology and information have given the U.S. the ability to push the border out, identifying and interdicting threats as they approach the U.S. before they ever reach the physical border while at the same time expediting the flow of legitimate traffic. These threats can take many forms, from individuals with derogatory terrorist, criminal, or customs histories to illicit or suspicious cargo. U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel do this in several ways, for example, using data to target threats hidden amongst inbound passengers and cargo, or by conducting physical screening at preclearance locations at foreign airports around the world. The outcome is a drastically smaller haystack in which to find the needle at the physical U.S. border.
Obviously, pushing the borders out, so to speak, is not something the U.S. can do unilaterally. It takes careful diplomacy, strong relationships, and a shared vision of what international partnerships can do to protect people across the world. Led by Secretaries Napolitano and Johnson, U.S. Department of Homeland Security staff, with support from their State Department colleagues, over the last eight years have expanded information sharing agreements, giving us the data necessary to conduct robust intelligence-based targeting to know when to deny a passenger boarding a plane at a foreign airport or subject them to additional screening upon arrival. Cooperation with host governments allows U.S. law enforcement personnel to forward-deploy, ensuring dangerous people or goods do not travel toward the U.S. These agreements have proven critical in keeping individuals departing from conflict zones like Syria from traveling to the U.S., for example. This demonstrably improved border security is predicated on strong international alliances and partnerships.
As the new Administration considers priorities, it should seek to expand this type of engagement abroad, not curtail it. It should repair relationships with critical partners and campaign trail targets like Mexico, whose cooperation is necessary to secure our border. In a world of globalized threats and opportunities it only serves to reduce progress by hiding behind walls.
About the author: Matt Chandler is a homeland security expert at Dūcō and a partner at Frontier Solutions, a Washington D.C.-based investigatory, compliance, due diligence and crisis management firm. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, focusing on counter-terrorism, intelligence, border security, immigration, and federal law enforcement-related issues.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
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International Engagement is Key to Securing U.S. Borders
San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico international border wall with border patrol vehicle.
January 24, 2017
Consider for a moment, even amidst President Trump’s late night Tweets aimed at allies and foes alike, that our new commander-in-chief truly means to enact an isolationist agenda that seeks to withdraw the United States from its long-held commitments to allies and partners abroad. Impacts abound across multiple channels, from our robust defense alliances, to those that pertain to trade. However, one key question cuts across both his “Make America Great Again” domestic focus and his evolving foreign policy priorities. How do we secure our nation’s borders?
President Trump’s border security intentions have been summed up in a now-famously succinct manner. Build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. But, there are two issues with walling the U.S. away from perceived threats. First, it assumes that our border is a first line of defense behind which we are safe from external threats if we provide billions of dollars of physical infrastructure. Second, it assumes that border security is a unilateral function that can be carried out by the United States alone. What hopefully becomes part of the President’s foreign policy equation is how critically intertwined U.S. border security is with engaging our foreign partners and allies.
It is true in both definition and historical practice that an international border is a physical line in the sand, with implications that are far-reaching—economic, political, security, and human-related. But in a globalized world, the border, and thus border security, has changed. Outside factors, including both commerce and threats, have evolved the notion of a border from a first line of defense to the last. Technology and information have given the U.S. the ability to push the border out, identifying and interdicting threats as they approach the U.S. before they ever reach the physical border while at the same time expediting the flow of legitimate traffic. These threats can take many forms, from individuals with derogatory terrorist, criminal, or customs histories to illicit or suspicious cargo. U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel do this in several ways, for example, using data to target threats hidden amongst inbound passengers and cargo, or by conducting physical screening at preclearance locations at foreign airports around the world. The outcome is a drastically smaller haystack in which to find the needle at the physical U.S. border.
Obviously, pushing the borders out, so to speak, is not something the U.S. can do unilaterally. It takes careful diplomacy, strong relationships, and a shared vision of what international partnerships can do to protect people across the world. Led by Secretaries Napolitano and Johnson, U.S. Department of Homeland Security staff, with support from their State Department colleagues, over the last eight years have expanded information sharing agreements, giving us the data necessary to conduct robust intelligence-based targeting to know when to deny a passenger boarding a plane at a foreign airport or subject them to additional screening upon arrival. Cooperation with host governments allows U.S. law enforcement personnel to forward-deploy, ensuring dangerous people or goods do not travel toward the U.S. These agreements have proven critical in keeping individuals departing from conflict zones like Syria from traveling to the U.S., for example. This demonstrably improved border security is predicated on strong international alliances and partnerships.
As the new Administration considers priorities, it should seek to expand this type of engagement abroad, not curtail it. It should repair relationships with critical partners and campaign trail targets like Mexico, whose cooperation is necessary to secure our border. In a world of globalized threats and opportunities it only serves to reduce progress by hiding behind walls.
About the author: Matt Chandler is a homeland security expert at Dūcō and a partner at Frontier Solutions, a Washington D.C.-based investigatory, compliance, due diligence and crisis management firm. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, focusing on counter-terrorism, intelligence, border security, immigration, and federal law enforcement-related issues.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
