The new "system" Zakaria is suggesting will take a long time to put in place. Where will our economy be by then?

The Canadian border is so long and in many places very remote. Preventing anyone or anything from coming across it would be even more difficult than doing so on the Mexican border. Here in Washington State we have many islands that are only a mile or two from Canadian Islands. We have a large number of pleasure boaters running around in the area, crossing back in forth over the border with no inspection. In the Great Lakes you have the same thing. There are many rivers flowing in both directions across the border where it is easy to simply attach things to a log and let the river transport them for you. Since the Canadian border will always be porous it makes more since to coordinate a strategy with Canada and keep people and things from getting into Canada in the first place.

Oh, Newsweak, that paragon of intellectual honesty...NOT

The point of Zakaria's column is not so much about catching the bad guys who we do not want crossing the border (though that is obviously critically important) as it is about the damage done to trade and the economy by slowing down the innocent flow of everyday commerce. How can we modify the system to minimize the damage?

bump to myself so I can comment later when I have more time...

Maybe I should have commented further. If we keep people and things that we don't want in America out of Canada then we don't need to inspect much cross border traffic.

If we keep people and things that we don't want in America out of Canada then we don't need to inspect much cross border traffic.

This would be a fine solution, but what if there are already so many bad guys in Canada (as there surely also are in the U.S.) that even if we stopped all further entry, the ones already there are sufficient to cause trouble way into the future.

The only answer for that problem is the same as in America: effective intelligence. Maybe facial recognition cameras at the border would help if we know who we are looking for.

Ever since September 11, Customs officers have been taking a lot longer than two minutes per truck. Since it takes five inspectors three hours to fully check out a loaded 18-wheel truck, the accumulated delays are massive.

Right now I am working for a large trucking company that traverses that border going both north and south multiple times a day. My current project is to implement the new electronic interface with Canadian Customs to expedite document inspections and border crossings when all parties are "pre-approved". That means the shipper, consignee, carrier and driver are all certified and the freight is documented as low risk. The point is that I'm aware of what is going on at the border crossing with respect to truck freight. Southbound traffic was backed up horribly for the first few days after September 11th. After that, it loosened up and has been flowing without problems. We have had no problem meeting our service levels bringing freight south since the initial panic. It would appear that the author of this article is basing his analysis on dated information that is no longer relevant.

How can we modify the system to minimize the damage?

One thing that I should point out about my previous post. The reason we are focusing our IT efforts on electronic integration with Canadian Customs, rather than US customs, is because Canada is prepared to do business that way and the US is not.

You seem to be discussing the problems of private individuals crossing the border, but you are doing it in the context of truck freight operations. The two are completely separate issues with completely different processes and procedures.