I am 81 and a vet. I served with Air Force, Navy and other Army personnel at a NORAD facility, defending “Boston Sector” from an attack by the Soviet Union. I knew about the threat from briefings and the classified Weekly Intelligence Review. The threat, while real and sizeable, fortunately did not materialize. However, from time to time the “DEFCON” was elevated, and the forces went on a higher alert.
In the current standoff over border wall funding, the president and his administration tell us that 4,000 illegal immigrants threaten us. In the mix, reportedly, are terrorists and drug dealers. Has the DEFCON gone up? Are our military forces (5,000) and sizeable border police in serious danger? Somehow superior numbers and technology have not given us an advantage. How can that be?
For answers I went to the website of the Cato Institute, which the Koch brothers fund. It has a very conservative point of view. Regarding the drug problem, which is real, the drugs come through airports and legal ports of entry. Terrorists are virtually nonexistent. How about a criminal element? The immigrants, once in our country, commit far fewer crimes, the Cato Institute found, than the resident population.
The danger from immigrants and asylum seekers at our southern border seems greatly exaggerated. Visit the Cato Institute website to verify the accuracy of my statements, which I draw from David Bier’s “Trump Just Doesn’t Understand the Border: Here Are the Facts.”
KENT HACKMANN
Andover