Cartoon of the Day

Via.

Napolitano realizes that the U.S. has a Canadian border

By GottaLaff

I'm not sure how many more realists I can take. It's dizzying. First, the ObamAdministration takes the environment seriously, and now this? Where am I?

Just days after she was sworn in, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered a comprehensive review of security efforts along the border between the U.S. and Canada.

Agencies including Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard and her department's intelligence branch have been asked to assess the vulnerabilities along the 4,000-mile northern border — the longest undefended border in the world — and recommend what can be done to improve security.

While more attention has been focused on the southern border with Mexico, the department has said that the terrorist threat is greater on the U.S.-Canadian border, given its length and limited law enforcement. [...]

Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona, has asked for reviews of other Department of Homeland Security programs, including such things as cybersecurity. [...]

Lawmakers from northern states have long complained that U.S.-Canada border issues have been shortchanged with the southern border a higher priority.

In a report late last year, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, said the Homeland Security Department hadn’t been fully responsive in providing information on the northern border to Congress. The GAO said that there were gaps in the information presented and that budget documents didn't "reflect the resources needed" to achieve control of the northern border. [...]

With the 2010 Winter Olympics coming to Vancouver, British Columbia, meeting security challenges was a top priority, Larsen said.

Remember this?

In December of 1999, upon arriving on a ferry from Canada, al-Qaida operative Ahmed Ressam was arrested with a trunk full of explosives. His plan: to blow up Los Angeles International Airport.

He was stopped by a customs agent who said " it was her gut instincts — not meetings in Washington — that helped her make the arrest." Now Washington is finally giving customs a helping hand.