Testifying before a House committee today, Michael Fisher, the chief of the US Customs and Border Patrol, explained that having “operational control” of only 32 miles of Canada-US border does not mean that the rest is unsecure:
From his testimony:
Since 2004, CBP has used “operational control” to describe the security of our borders.
However, this measure did not accurately represent the Border Patrol’s significant investments in personnel, technology, and resources or the efforts of other DHS Components who are engaged in border security such as ICE and the U.S. Coast Guard. Operational Control as applied by the U.S. Border Patrol is the ability to detect, identify, classify, and then respond to and resolve illegal entries along our U.S Borders. The term is tactical in nature and by current use can only be achieved by incrementally applying resources to a point where field commanders can consistently respond to and resolve illegal entries. Operational as a measure however does not accurately incorporate the efforts of CBP partners and the significance of information and intelligence in an increasingly joint and integrated operating environment. The Border Patrol is
currently taking steps to replace this outdated measure with performance metrics that more accurately depict the state of border security.
Since 2004, CBP has used “operational control” to describe the security of our borders. However, this measure did not accurately represent the Border Patrol’s significant investments in personnel, technology, and resources or the efforts of other DHS Components who are engaged in border security such as ICE and the U.S. Coast Guard. Operational Control as applied by the U.S. Border Patrol is the ability to detect, identify, classify, and then respond to and resolve illegal entries along our U.S Borders. The term is tactical in nature and by current use can only be achieved by incrementally applying resources to a point where field commanders can consistently respond to and resolve illegal entries. Operational as a measure however does not accurately incorporate the efforts of CBP partners and the significance of information and intelligence in an increasingly joint and integrated operating environment. The Border Patrol is currently taking steps to replace this outdated measure with performance metrics that more accurately depict the state of border security.
