Then you have the vehicle issue. These vehicles wear out very quickly because they are used very aggressively in very difficult terrain. Then you have the issue of just simply the training facilities because as you dramatically expand the number of people you are trying to put in the Border Patrol. you need training facilities to do that. Those training facilities are being upgraded and have been upgraded. but they need to be upgraded further to handle the even more people we are going to put in there. So I suggested about a year and a half ago that we do a capital infusion into the border security effort which would essentially accelerate the Coast Guard refurbishment. taking it from completion in the year 2026. which I thought was a little long to wait for the Coast Guard to be refurbished. down to 2016. It would get the new planes for the Customs Agency. get new helicopters for the Border Patrol. and instead of having one Predator. which no longer exists. in the air on the border. have three or four Predators on the border. There are other technologies which are a lot cheaper. actually. than using that vehicle which probably should be pursued. and doing the technology along the border relative to landtoland detection. In addition. the capital infusion would give the Border Patrol the physical facilities so that when we get all of these Border Patrol agents together in their various facilities. they have a place to sit down. they also have desks at which to work. and they have vehicles that allow them to go out in the field and do their job. To accomplish that kind of refurbishment was in. our estimation. about a $1.9 billion effort. So I initially put that forward in the Defense bill last year.
Keywords matched
border security Border Patrol