Counter-Terrorism Training

No one’s ever accused me of being politically correct, so I won’t try to alter that reputation this late in the game.  As a counter-terrorism consultant I often find myself studying what terrorists are up to rather that how they are gaining access to their targets.  I thought in this blog we might talk about the immigration piece of the puzzle.

Even though the research and open source intelligence I have gathered over the past several years would indicate the majority of terrorists who were caught committing or attempting acts of terror thus far have entered the United States legally, I can’t help but wonder how many are coming in illegally via our porous borders.  And then I think, once inside the United States, what might they be planning.

Research (and common sense) would indicate that before 9-11, terrorists were coming and going at will through our immigration system, many documented as students, temporary work visas, etc.  After 9-11, when our eyes were partially opened to the problem, we began the process of limiting access for people via use of “no fly lists, terror lists, FBI watch lists, country lists, etc.”  What we fail to remember, however, is our terrorist enemies are patient, very patient. In fact, it is common for a radical terrorist to train for a specialty, move to the target country, assimilate into the community for many years before his/her services are requested.  This display of patience comes from the religious roots of many students in terror organized sponsored and funded schools (madrassah) in the mid-east, Asia and Africa that emphasize the study of hand-picked, word-for-word passages from the Qur’an.  The term “radical Islamic terrorist” in my mind comes from a person who uses this hand picking and choosing of words and phrases from the Qur’an to follow, then does so to death, no matter what.  The problem comes in when there are literally hundreds of these terror sponsored schools that are filling young impressionable minds with this religious hate who later in life may have an opportunity to relocate to the United States to fulfill a destiny.

Fast forward to today and the U.S./Mexico border and focus on stubborn facts.  Courtesy of ABC 15 News,  “Pinal County, Arizona  - In April,  in a special cell block deep inside the Pinal County Jail, nearly 400 inmates sat awaiting trial or extradition after being detained trying to cross the Arizona border from Mexico.  Only about half of them were actually from Mexico.

The cell block, owned by Pinal County, but contracted with the Department of Homeland Security, is a way station in the immigration process, where inmates are held after they are detained by the Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  But it’s where the inmates are from that causes concern for some critics and lawmakers.”

On that one day in April, according to records obtained by ABC 15, Homeland Security officials were holding inmates from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, and the Sudan. “They’re coming from all over,” Arizona Senator Jon Kyl said. “And one wonders whether some of them are coming in here to commit acts of terror.”

Kyl has been tracking the problem since 2002, not long after the September 11 attacks. Since that time, according to an investigation by the House Committee on Homeland Security, intelligence officials have determined members of the terror group Hezbollah have already infiltrated the U.S. by crossing at the southern border.

(Hezbollah Flag)

ICE officials told congressional investigators, undocumented immigrants were smuggled from the mid-east to staging areas in Central and South America, before being smuggled into the U.S.  The report says officials are also concerned about Venezuela emerging as a terrorist “hub,” with the government there issuing travel documents that can be used to obtain a U.S. visa.

A recent report from Fox News detailed regular commercial airline flights from Iran to Syria to Venezuela.  These flights are taking place several times per week and there are no passenger lists known to exist outside of Iran and Venezuela.   It is believed these flights are supporting the development of nuclear technology between the two nations.  Sounds similar to a little problem we had in the 1960’s with Cuba does it not.

Border patrol agents have also recovered military-style patches on clothing near the U.S./Mexico border. One patch contains the word “martyr” in Arabic. Another depicts a plane appearing to fly into sky scrapers.  A third patch not shown here contained the letters “DAIWA” which DHS officials cleverly stated in their report stood for the name of a fishing products company.  What they did not spell out in the report is the Arabic term pronounced DIAWA, but spelled DA’WA means “The call to convert to Islam”.  Again, facts are stubborn things, but I do not understand why they would want to hide such important information from local officials who would ultimately read these reports.

(Uniform patches found in US desert)

U.S. intelligence officials have known for the better part of a decade about terror groups’ willingness to smuggle people across the southern border, yet little has been done to substantially increase border security.  My question is: What are we waiting for?

We recently had U.S. law enforcement officials threatened by Mexican drug gangs telling them to not interfere with their trafficking efforts or they will become targets.  Are we going to allow a “target” to be taken before we act in a serious manner?  I hope not, but if so, the blood will be on this administration’s hands as the requests to seal the border once and for all have been trumpeted loud and clear from the American voting public.

Officials also note the nightmarish scenario involved with returning detainees to their home countries. The Mexican government won’t accept a border crosser if they aren’t from Mexico, and many countries lack any diplomatic mechanism for repatriating a detainee.

“There’s a procedure which takes place, where, in effect, if we can’t send them back, they’re let go,” Senator Kyl said. “Obviously that creates an illegal immigration problem, but it could… create a problem of terrorism as well.”

Then this practice begs the question: Why would you let go into the U.S. open population a person from a country of terror sympathizers that went to the trouble of going to Mexico to cross our porous border.  I doubt this person is doing so to seek work “that Americans will not do”.  The time to bring our immigration system up to date is now.   I say, CHANGE THE SYSTEM and do it NOW!

My plan is simple:

1. Drop the politics – just get the job done!
2. Give the border jurisdictions real interoperable communications so they can talk to one another down there.
3. Give CBP and ICE virtual fence technologies such as ground sensors, cameras, interoperable communication gear, etc so we can get serious about catching illegal border crossers.
4. Relocate CBP officers to the immediate border areas in micro substations along the border and link the virtual technologies together.  They cannot do us a lot of good in an office, 80 miles north of the border.
5. Complete the fence already!  Statistics show and immediate halt to border crossings in newly fenced areas.
6. Stop the insanity of “catch and release”.  Implement 1^st offense jail time to discourage re-entry.  When we catch OTMs from possible terrorist nations we need to have a different way to treat them according to what is best for national security.

So, let’s go Washington, listen to your boss (concerned U.S. citizens) and SECURE THE BORDER before we have to live through another 9-11.

Silence is NOT an option!

Your comments are welcome.

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