Border Guards Divided on Whether U.S. Safer

Frontline U.S. border security officers are divided over whether the nation is safer from terrorism now than before the Sept. 11 attacks, and most say morale in the new Homeland Security Department is low, according to a poll released today.

A slim majority of 53% of Border Patrol agents and immigration inspectors said they believed the country is safer, and 44% believe it is no safer or less safe, according to the survey of 1,000 officers by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. Unions representing some 16,000 agents and inspectors sponsored the poll.

“The bureaucratic bungling that plagued and hampered the old Immigration and Naturalization Service has not only survived, it has thrived in the new Department of Homeland Security,” said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council. “Bureaucrats are not listening to the frontline border protection personnel.”

A spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a division of the Homeland Security Department, called the poll “blatantly biased and inaccurate.”

“I think it misleads the employees and misinforms them at a time when they need to know we appreciate their sacrifice,” said Christiana Halsey.

Department officials complained that the poll of 500 Border Patrol agents and 500 immigration inspectors surveyed only union members, but the unions said they represent about two-thirds of all the employees. The unions said they commissioned the poll so they could show management “hard data” about their concerns, not just anecdotal examples.

Border Patrol agents guard the land borders, mainly the frontier with Mexico, while most immigration inspectors are stationed at airports. Before the terrorist attacks, catching illegal immigrants was the central mission for both.

Since then, Border Patrol agents and immigration inspectors have been given an additional mission in support of the war on terrorism. But the Sept. 11 Commission concluded that their new roles and responsibilities had not been fully worked out.

The poll found that 60% of agents and inspectors rated morale as low or very low. They cited poor management, mistrust of the rank-and-file by management, lack of equipment and training and increased bureaucracy as factors behind their disenchantment.

About 35% of the officers said they were not satisfied they had the tools and training to stop potential terrorists; 29% said they were only “somewhat” satisfied. An additional 18% said they were “fairly satisfied.” Only 16% said they were “very satisfied.”

The officers complained that they lacked access to the most up-to-date databases of terrorists and criminal suspects and to modern technology. And they complained about weak support from the Homeland Security Department.

Spokeswoman Halsey questioned those findings, saying the department has invested in such technology as radiation detectors and a new border screening system that uses fingerprints and digital photographs to monitor arriving foreign visitors.

However, the poll found that 62% of the officers believe the department can do more to protect the country from terrorism. Only 36% agreed the department was “doing as much as could reasonably be expected.”

The telephone survey was taken from July 30 to Aug. 7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5% for the Border Patrol agents, and 6.3 % for the immigration inspectors.