“Understood,” the President said. “Continue, Major Richter.”
“It appears to my task force that the problem with border security is mostly due to a lack of resources,” Jason went on. “Simply put, there are simply not enough patrol agents or sensors in the field to cover such a long border. The terrain and climate are two major factors. Most of the border is not well patrolled because it is simply too rugged, too barren, too far from usable roads, or too difficult to operate in for any length of time. Weather conditions are usually extreme: hot, cold, windy, dry, and everything in between, factors that hamper effective patrol operations but won’t deter a determined smuggler or migrant from attempting the crossing.” Jason was happy to see that Abernathy was nodding slightly in agreement. “That concludes my briefing, sir.”
“Thank you, Major Richter,” Jefferson said as he returned to the lectern. “Mr. President, Operation Rampart will achieve its mission objective by utilizing reaction teams composed of unmanned tactical surveillance aircraft with specialized sensors to detect, locate, and track any person or vehicle crossing the borders, combined with fast-reaction ground and air units positioned in numerous locations along the border to stop the intruder and make an arrest. Instead of being deployed from headquarters areas to the border, these reaction teams will be located on the border. Each surveillance base will be spaced approximately ten miles apart, depending on terrain.”
“How many bases are you proposing, Ray?” the President asked.
“Approximately fifty bases, sir,” Jefferson replied.
“Fifty bases?” Lemke asked, astonished. “You want to build fifty air bases along the border?”
“Yes, sir,” Jefferson replied. “They are not full-up air bases—they are small bare-base airfields with detention and support facilities. Each surveillance base houses a reaction team composed of an air flight, composed of two long-endurance surveillance airships, three utility helicopters, and field maintenance facilities; a security flight, composed of perimeter, facility, prisoner, and personnel security officers; and a support flight, which takes care of lodging, meals, physical plant, power, water, detention, transportation, and common areas.” Jefferson changed Powerpoint slides on the screen before the audience. “Each base would have about fifty personnel, which are deployed from active, Reserve, or National Guard military bases for a week at a time, once per month. They would…”
“Twenty-five-hundred troops a week?” Lemke exclaimed. “Do we have that many troops?”
“The Army National Guard and Army Reserves have a total of seven hundred and fifty thousand personnel,” Jefferson responded. “Of these, about three hundred thousand are infantry, light mechanized, air cavalry, security, and intelligence-trained, appropriate for this mission. If we use just ten to fifteen thousand of them and rotate them to the Border Patrol mission once a month, we can fulfill the manning requirements. The advantage is that these citizen soldiers will be deployed right here, in the United States, close to home. That is a tremendous cost savings and morale booster. It may also be possible to augment some of these forces with volunteers.” He turned to the President and added, “It’s a substantial mission to undertake, sir, there’s no question. It might mean fewer infantry, support, logistics, and intelligence forces available to augment the active-duty force…”
“Assuming you use each unit just one monthly rotation per year, that means over one hundred thousand troops per year,” Chief of Staff Kinsly pointed out. That’s over a third of all Guard and Reserve units assigned just to border security!” He turned to the President and went on: “That’s major, sir. That’ll send an awfully in-your-face message to the Mexican government, to the Hispanic population, and to civil rights and immigration rights groups.”
“I want to hear about the plan first, Tom,” the President said irritably, “before I hear about potential political problems. One headache at a time, please.”
“I see men and equipment for surveillance and detention,” Secretary of Homeland Security Lemke pointed out, “but nothing for actually stopping anyone from crossing the border. Seems to me you’re not solving the problem here, Sergeant Major—we can see them, but we can’t stop them. Your ten thousand troops per month are only there to support the surveillance stuff—how many more will you need for patrol and apprehension? Or are you just going to rely on the Border Patrol?”
“We can always increase the size of the Border Patrol,” Jefferson responded, “but I have another suggestion: using CID units.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Kinsly moaned.
Jefferson turned to Jason Richter, who stepped back to the lectern: “The CID units have the right capabilities for this mission, sir,” he said. “They’re fast, have better rough terrain capability than Humvees, they can carry a lot of heavy equipment, and they can perform other missions such as search and rescue, medevac, armed intervention…”
“What about your other task force missions, Major?” Jeffrey Lemke asked. “Won’t this slow down your pursuit of the rest of the Consortium? And what exactly will these CID units do?”
“They receive surveillance data from the unmanned aircraft or from ground sensors on anyone observed to cross the border and respond to the location to investigate,” Jefferson said. “If it encounters any illegal migrants, they can detain them until Border Patrol officers arrive to make an arrest.”
“Let’s get to the bottom line, Sergeant Major,” the President interjected. “What’s this plan going to cost?”
“Personnel costs are approximately one hundred thousand dollars per month per base, or one hundred twenty million dollars per year. Total manpower required is approximately twenty-five hundred soldiers rotated among the facilities every week, or a total manpower commitment of ten thousand troops per month, or one billion dollars per year. Cost to operate the ground vehicles is eighty million dollars per year; cost to operate the helicopters and UAVs is approximately eight hundred million dollars per year. We estimate we will have approximately twenty-five thousand detainees in custody in our facilities; they will cost another billion dollars a year to feed, house, and provide support for them. This brings the total cost of this program to approximately three billion dollars a year, plus approximately a billion dollars to build the bases themselves.”
Lemke looked at the briefing slides projected onto the screen before him. “What about these detention facilities, Mr. Jefferson? Assuming your reaction teams work as advertised, what do you propose to do with the detainees you capture?”
“They will be held in detention facilities at each surveillance base until processed, sir,” Jefferson replied. “Each base will have facilities to house two hundred and fifty detainees. We anticipate that detainees will be held a minimum of thirty days until their identities, political status, and criminal records are checked; repeat offenders will be detained for longer periods of time, or transferred to other federal facilities.”
“You’re going to arrest them, Jefferson?” Lemke asked. “Women, children, old men—arrest them just for trying to cross the border, make a better life for themselves, and do work that others won’t do?”
“No, Mr. Secretary—we’re going to arrest them because they broke the law,” Jefferson said. “I did check, sir, and the United States still does have a law against crossing the borders outside of legal border crossing points or ports of entry. It does not mention any extenuating circumstances. There is no age limit, medical qualification, or lawful purpose for doing so except for political asylum: it is still illegal.”