Border Protector Michael J. Fisher - KMI Media Group

that is risk based, we must constantly evolve within that broad border
security initiative framework regarding how we protect this country
against all threats and with more inclusion of our federal, state, tribal
and local law enforcement partners and the local communities that
are within the border areas and are affected by those threats that we
see every day.
Q: Can you elaborate on the Border Patrol’s strategic plan?
A: The Border Patrol Strategic Plan is the second strategy that the
Border Patrol put into practice since CBP was created in 2003. The
original strategy that guided the way we operate along the borders was
written in 2004. In the new strategy, there are two overarching goals
and each of those goals has specific strategic objectives that will carry
the Border Patrol through 2016. We are in the process right now of
building the implementation plan both within the organization at the
leadership and field levels, within the workforce and also within the
security and technology industries. It’s important to get the [technology
industry’s] perspectives about what we’re looking to do over the
next five years. The strategy really involves a strategic shift and changes
some of our strategic imperatives in terms of things that we know we
need to achieve over the next five years, given what we have done since
9/11 and since the evolution of the 2004 strategy.
Q: Can you tell me what the two overarching goals are and what the
objectives of each goal are?
A: The first goal is about our border security mission: What does
it mean in today’s threat environment to secure the border? How
do we transition from a workforce that really doubled the agency’s
size and capability in terms of staffing? What do we do now with
nine unmanned aircraft systems that back in 2004 we were still just
experimenting with? We have things like remote vehicle surveillance
systems; these are ground-based radar systems that have daytime and
nighttime cameras. These give us a whole array of capabilities that we
didn’t have before. The first goal is focused on optimizing our capabilities.
With all of the new technology and more capability in terms of
staffing, how then do we build a strategy for implementation to carry
us through the next five years?
It’s a different scenario than the strategy from 2004, which was
focused on building resources. We knew that we were getting a lot
of enhancements, and so as we were hiring Border Patrol agents and
building roads and fences and as we were acquiring new technology, it
became a show of force: Deploy every available resource and stop the
flow from coming across our borders, whether that was vehicles just
driving across or hundreds and thousands of people on any given day
coming through a very porous border.
The second goal focuses on the organization itself, specifically
the men and women of the agency: How do we build and continue to
mature the workforce? The theme between both goals intrinsic to the
strategy is really identifying, developing and training future leaders of
the Border Patrol. This is critical for us to be able to fully implement
and mature the strategy and create a more secure border. The second
goal also includes writing doctrine. We must formalize the process.
With the size of the organization and the complexity that our border
security, and now national security, mandates require, we have to
actually build doctrine to institutionalize a process by which we would
implement such a strategy. Goal two speaks to these issues, our processes,
our system: How do we do joint and integrated planning and
18 | BCD 1.1
Arizona CBP Operations include aerials of CBP locations, canine inspections, ports of entry and
exit, border patrols, OFO operations and inspections, apprehensions, drug seizures, and check
points. [Photo courtesy of DHS/by Donna Burton]
execution within the organization of CBP, within the department, and
then within a whole of government approach?
Q: How does CBP work with the U.S. military and other federal
agencies?
A: Before CBP in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the military worked along
the border predominantly in a counter-drug mission. During that time,
the U.S. government was doing a lot, like source country interdictions.
Working on the border, the special response teams and the Special
Operations Group within the Border Patrol was working with the military.
The Border Patrol worked with both Title 10 and Title 32 forces.
The Title 10 were the full-time military under orders. We worked with
the U.S. Marine Corps and the 5th and 7th Group Special Forces. We
also worked with Title 32 forces, which is predominantly the National
Guard—the National Guard was deployed back then under specific
funding for DoD counter-drug missions. The military provided much
needed eyes and ears for Border Patrol agents when we didn’t have a lot
of staffing and technology, so they were a force multiplier for us on the
border and it was very effective. That relationship has grown.
Right now, we continue to coordinate very closely with NORTH-
COM [U.S. Northern Command], specifically Joint Task Force-North
[JTF-N] in El Paso, Texas, which is our conduit to the larger combatant
command of NORTHCOM. We provide our border requirements
quarterly to JTF-N, which coordinates military units that volunteer to
source some of those requirements to various locations along our borders.
Currently, we are working with the military through Operation
Phalanx, which started out several years ago with the deployment of
up to 1,200 National Guardsmen along our borders. We have recently
transitioned to helicopters and other types of air support in predominantly
two theaters of operations, one in the Arizona corridor and one
in the South Texas corridor.
Q: How are CBP OAM P-3s utilized for counter-narcotic missions
and what are a few recent mission successes?
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