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Do you suppose they are finally listening to this man, who knows what he's talking about?

I served my country for almost 3 decades as a soldier and officer in the U.S. Army. A significant portion of my career was spent planning for defense of and defending other nation’s borders. We did quite well. We won the cold war and we are the only standing superpower. We are the world’s experts at border security. (Col. Ben Anderson)
. . . I shall not waste the committee’s time discussing whether or not we should protect or defend our sovereign borders or whether illegal aliens have any standing or justification for invading our sovereign nation. I shall not waste my time debating the parsing of their illegal status.
. . . It is not money that is needed to fight this synergistic and symbiotic business of crime and corruption; it is the military. Only the military can close the border to the illegal entry of those who would do our nation and its economy harm. Trying to buy off the problem with other taxpayer’s money is rather insulting to all of us who live in Cochise County. We don’t want other taxpayer’s money - we want the problem stopped. We want the military.
. . . Just what does Congress think is going on here on the border? And what does it take to make an impact? This is admittedly the seventh field hearing held by the Subcommittee along the nation’s borders to address the situation. How many more will it take?
. . . There have already been six of these hearings, yet no progress in the eyes the American citizens who live along the border in Cochise County. In fact, matters worsen daily. Since the last such session that I am aware of back on February 22, 2002 in Sierra Vista, not only has there been absolutely no progress, but now various citizen groups have formed to take the matter into their own hands to defend the border and deter the invasion of illegal aliens, drug traffickers and potential terrorists.
. . . Our military has decades of experience in border security missions - from 1945 till the collapse of the Soviet Union in Europe, from the end of open hostilities in Korea and continuing in to this day, and Bosnia and Kosovo, etc. In fact, the American military is the world's expert at protecting other nation's borders. It is time that unique experience is used at home where it is sorely needed. There is no need for large military units, or heavy equipment or tracked vehicles such as tanks, artillery or armored personnel carriers; or heavy weapons or any equipment that might be ecologically destructive. Light forces with rapid airmobile (helicopter) mobility can cover large remote border areas with minimal assets while freeing up limited Border Patrol assets to concentrate on congested urban areas or where their particular expertise is needed.
Ft. Huachuca provides a perfect location for border operations of any needed military units.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/862300/posts
The Cochise County View of the Border

Testimony of Ben L. Anderson Jr., Col US Army Retired,
submitted to U.S. Subcommittee on Criminal Justice,
Drug Policy and Human Resources,
Representative Mark Souder, Chairman.
(excerpt)
In light of the current and programmed INS/Border Patrol structure’s inability to contain the illegal alien invasion from Mexico - I urge strong consideration of a military option in southeastern Arizona, if not across the entirety of the US/Mexico international border. Any attempts to deny protection of the United States sovereign borders on the basis of any Posse Comitatus nonsense is trumped by Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution. – “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion;….”. Again, it must be stressed that the mission is one of national security and not law enforcement. I also stress that the solution is not more taxpayer funding, but rather military presence.
Respectfully,

Ben L. Anderson Jr.
Colonel, USA (Infantry) (Retired)

Website: www.azanderson.org

Military on the border:

The solution is doable –

    1. Put the military on the border to release the INS and Border Patrol to go apprehend the illegal aliens current running amok in the United States and return them to their countries of origin.
    2. The fix of the INS and Border Patrol will be a major undertaking that will take many years - at least a decade. A review of U.S. Military structure, career patterns, schooling and training is highly recommended.
    3. Back off the military from the border when the INS and Border Patrol have grown into their jobs. This will take several years.

Basic suggested concepts include, but are not limited to -

The security of the U.S. border should be accomplished with a combination of Border Patrol, selected regular Military, National Guard & Reserve and a little innovation.

The Border Patrol should apprehend, process and repatriate illegal aliens in accordance with their mission.

The National Guard & Reserves assume those logistic and maintenance functions (transportation – truck and bus driving, vehicle maintenance, communications and administrative tasks, house keeping tasks, etc.) to free up Border Patrol personnel to concentrate on their basic mission.

The regular military provides high tech reconnaissance, surveillance & scouting with manned aircraft and UAVs, monitoring of remote areas, air-lift, and selected units to secure remote areas of the border. The border mission will provide an excellent training opportunity.   Most importantly, the border mission is a national security mission.

Some more innovative concepts include -

1. Ultra-light aircraft.   Ultra-light aircraft would be appropriate for daytime missions. Ultra-lights are inexpensive (cost less than current Border Patrol SUVs), low maintenance, require only limited training (do not require an FAA pilots license), and fly low & slow allowing for excellent tracking of illegal activity. They can be either single or double occupant and would allow for a dedicated pilot and tracker. They are available for purchase in Arizona.

2. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). UAVs that are in the current inventory provide the nighttime continuation of the daytime mission, yet with advanced high-tech all-weather and limited visibility sensors to acquire and track infiltrating illegal movement.

Both ultra-lights and UAVs can complement each other with reverse cycle maintenance: Ultra-light maintenance at night and UAV maintenance during the day.   All UAVs would be stationed and operate from Ft. Huachuca. Ultra-lights would be ground transported to the area of use. State of the art light-weight high-tech communications and position locating systems can be easily installed in proposed ultra-light.

3. Native American Border Patrol Augmentation.   A dedicated Native American Border Patrol augmentation would be an excellent way of capitalizing the unique and honored traditional skills of our Native American citizens. Their time honored skills at tracking and outdoor skills can be tapped to the nation’s advantage. They should be employed as trackers working in conjunction with US military, Border Patrol, ultra-lights and UAVs. A military occupation specialty (MOS) type training program could provide structure to the concept. Entrusting them with our national borders would be a compliment to their heritage along the line of the “Code Talkers” of WW II. A name for consideration would be “Border Stalkers”. It might be that this new opportunity would provide a needed and well-deserved niche for the Native American community beyond what is currently available. Currently such a concept is in place with the “Shadow Wolves” of the U.S. Customs Service on the Tohono O'Odham Reservation in southern Arizona.
The Shadow Wolves unit is composed solely of Native Americans of Blackfoot, Cheyenne and Pima tribes who are known for their uncanny ability to track aliens and the drugs they may carry.
See: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/2001-09-27/feat.html and http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,70147,00.html

Col. Ben Anderson (bio)
To list just a few of his qualifications, Col. Anderson retired in 1993 after almost three-decades of Army service, which included assignments in Europe; Far East, including Vietnam; Central and South America; Caribbean; and North Africa.

Among the retired Infantry Colonel’s military decorations are 2 Silver Stars, 2 Purple Hearts, 2 Legions of Merit, The Defense Superior Service Medal and 3 Meritorious Service Medals. He also wears the Combat Infantry Badge, Aviator Wings, Ranger Tab, Pathfinder Designation, Senior Paratrooper Wings, Scuba Badge and both German and Paraguayan Paratrooper Wings.

Anderson graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1966 (BS, Engineering). He holds three masters degrees: (German Linguistics), Georgetown University, Wash. D.C.; MA (International Relations), Salve Regina College, Newport, RI; and MA (National Security & Strategic Studies), Naval War College.

He also taught on the faculty at the United States Military Academy, West Point (1974-76).

To receive his email newsletter, contact him at .