The U.S.-Canada border is the likely path for terrorists to invade the country, according to top national security experts and Congress’ most comprehensive review of America’s 19,000 miles of coasts and land borders.
“The nexus between known or suspected terrorists in eastern Canada and the northern parts of the U.S. represent a significant national security threat,” said a new report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, a conclusion made before Canada decided to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees by March.
“The border is not secure,” Sen. Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican who is chairman of the committee, told the Examiner.
He raised concerns about the rushed refugee plans of new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “It is a concern with the new prime minister, Trudeau, opening up his border to refugees. They can come into America, so I would say that increases our risk,” Johnson said.
His panel’s new 100-page report, based on dozens of hearings, interviews and trips, cites terror arrests in Canada and quotes several experts raising concerns about how easy it is for illegal immigrants and terrorists to cross in from Canada.
“Security observers have argued that Canada represents a substantial vulnerability, because it provides immigrant visas to individuals who pose a significant threat,” said the report, “The State of America’s Border Security.”
“Witnesses testified before the committee that if someone gets into Canada, they will most likely be able to enter the U.S.”
And for hundreds of miles, there is only a shallow ditch to stop them. “There is currently no fencing on the northern border. Instead, the demarcation line between the two countries is often marked by a ditch, approximately six inches deep,” the report says.
And it’s not just a northern border problem. Johnson said the highly trafficked U.S. border with Mexico is also a pathway for Islamic terrorists, especially as they team up with drug cartels that have carte blanche on their side of the line.
Those cartels “are also combining with transnational criminal organizations, potentially Islamic terror organizations,” he said.
Johnson in his report steers clear of the heated presidential campaign rhetoric on how to handle the border and notes that “it’s not a war zone.”
Solutions for the southern border include development of a guest worker system, a new campaign against drugs, and more efforts to secure the border. He also talked favorably of a recent Bush-era campaign to send those caught at the border home immediately, an effort that led to a drop in illegal border crossings.
Up north, he wants a “threat analysis” to see what more can be done to stop terrorists from slipping in. “Start now,” he said.
McCain calls Sanders ‘x-rated,’ but ‘an honest man’
It was certainly one of the oddest couples in Washington when Sens. John McCain and Bernie Sanders teamed to draw up bipartisan legislation to reform the embattled Department of Veterans Affairs last year.
Now as Sanders runs for the Democratic presidential nomination, McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, is dishing on the Senate’s version of “Grumpy Old Men.”
McCain, the defense expert and Vietnam War POW, was asked to negotiate with Sanders on last year’s VA reform plan. “I must say to you that it was a very colorful, and X-rated, experience. And I believe that my reward will be in Heaven, not on Earth,” he joked.
In the end, they cut a deal that McCain called “the first step in reforming the VA.”
He was impressed with his counterpart. “I obviously am in strong disagreement with him on his basic philosophy of the role of government, but as far as an honest individual, to work with, to reach agreement, I respect Bernie Sanders,” McCain said.
“I will also say to anyone who will ask, Bernie Sanders is an honest man. He’s an honest man and his word is good. Once we reached an agreement, that agreement stuck. And now he’s brushing his hair, which is really a remarkable thing.”
FEC chief plots national takeover of local elections
The Democratic chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission is pushing to federalize state and local elections with new rules that would impose Washington fundraising restrictions on ballot initiatives.
Speaking to California’s Capital Public Radio, Ann Ravel was asked about “dark money” in nonfederal elections. As a prior California election commissioner, she said a 2012 state case involving anonymous donors has influenced her view of federal involvement.
“It is really important for there to be a federal solution to the problem and really robust disclosure on the federal level,” she said in comments that have raised eyebrows in GOP circles.
Ravel, concerned about foreign money being used in a California ballot initiative, recently tried to rewrite FEC rules to give the agency a new role. She would have redefined the word “elections” to include ballot initiatives, not just candidate contests. But she was stopped by Republican commissioners who noted that the state already has rules on foreign influences.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
