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Actually, they flew into Portland, ME international airport and then flew into Logan. They were cleared by US Customs in ME.

The fact is they could have flown into Canada and easily WALKED across the VT, NH or ME border if they really wanted to. The VT, NH, Canada border is a 100 yard open strip of land where they have removed the trees. There are no guard shacks that can see every place on the border. Also, there are several lakes, rivers that are on the border. There are 1000’s of places to easily cross undetected.

The show “Homeland” had an episode where an Iranian flew into Montreal and rented a car. He left his rental car in Canada walked across and was picked up in one of the small VT border towns by a friend. This would be very easy to accomplish and not far fetched at all.

From what Wikipedia and 9-11 memorial sites indicate, it doesn't appear that any of the hijackers started out in Canada. They probably used the Portland airport because, even pre 9-11, controls would have been more lax there than at Logan Airport. I remembered that detail from the first reports 13 years ago.

While the Canadian border does not have the illegal immigrant and drug trafficking issues the Mexican border has, it sounds like better surveillance is needed, perhaps the "virtual fence" that Homeland Security has mentioned for the U.S.-Mexican border.

I've been in the Logan airport but wouldn't think there were direct flights from Maine to a small town in Utah.

I wonder about Glacier National Park. There is a Canadian park just across the border--do they check people on the trail at the border?