CBP has answers to the apparent inconsistencies and errors that I have
pointed out in previous postings. Here,
here,
and here.
In response to a request to clarify the confusing and ostensibly errant
numbers, CBP warned “it would be unfair to categorize UAS [unmanned aerials
systems] by only using drug interdiction or border crossing metrics.”
Yes, ideally CBP would measure progress in securing the homeland by
achievements by other measures, such as its role in countering terrorism and
keeping the homeland secure – whatever that means.
The border agency further explains that:
CBP deploys and operates the UAS only
after careful examination where the UAS can be most responsibly aid in
countering threats of our Nation's security. As threats change, CBP
adjusts its enforcement posture accordingly and may consider moving the
location of assets.
Then, the agency trots out the old force-multiplier assertion:
The UAS can stay in the air for up to
20 hours at a time-something no other aircraft in the federal inventory can
do. In this manner it is a force multiplier, providing aerial
surveillance support for border agents by investigating sensor activity in
remote areas to distinguish between real or perceived threats, allowing the
boots on the ground force to best allocate their resources and efforts.
That’s true. The Predators are called out when ground sensors signal
movement. But as OAM’s (Office of Air and Marine) Major General Michael Kostelnik
explained at the July 15, 2010 Border and Marine Security subcommittee hearing:
At a
standard 15 sensor activations, 12 of them might just be the wind. Two might be
animals. One might be a group of migrants, and one might be a big group
carrying drugs.
If there is a plausible explanation as to why there
has been no increase in the number of drug seizures and immigrant apprehensions
despite a jump from 10,000 to 12,000 hours of drone flights, it may be, as CBP
wrote in response to the request to clarify its numbers, that:
UAS is
not exclusive to the border security mission. CBP OAM leverages the Predator-B
and Guardian UAS as a force multiplier during National Special Security Events
and emergency and disaster response efforts, including those of the U.S. Secret
Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, USCG, and other Department of
Homeland Security partners.
In other words, the border Predators haven’t been
on the border but have been deployed elsewhere on homeland security missions.
Which, would mean, that despite the increased
number of Predators and Guardians assigned for border security duty, the drones
aren’t patrolling the border and coasts – a scenario, if true, would likely
upset all the border security hawks who insist that these drones are needed to
secure the border.
It’s more likely, however, that CBP/OAM has from
beginning been cooking the books and manipulating -- and that no one has called
them on the inconsistencies.
Asked in the same query to show how CBP/OAM
disaggregated the drone-related numbers from overall seizure and apprehension
data and for the documentation to support its UAV flight-time declarations,
CBP/OAM had no response.
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