The unmanned planes look north toward the long, lightly defended and admittedly porous Canada-U.S. border – the best route many Americans believe for jihadists seeking to attack the United States to sneak across.
Like their missile-carrying military cousins prowling Pakistan’s skies targeting al-Qaeda suspects, the unarmed Predator aircraft that have patrolled the 49th parallel since 2009 are high-tech, sophisticated and little understood. And they are part of the same diffuse and determined effort the Unites States is making to secure its borders and defend itself.
“We’re here to protect the nation from bad people doing bad things,” says John Priddy, U.S. National Air Security Operations director for the Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine. He heads thePredator operation guarding American’s northern airspace.
“This is the equivalent of the Cold War in terms of a new type of vigilance,” says Mr. Priddy, who has flown everything from Boeing 747 cargo jets to Apache helicopters.
[More]
Notes:
The comments are interesting but keep in mind it’s the Globe readers, who tend to be heavily biased (America bad — Canada good). My thoughts are a bit different because I feel this system works for both countries. I don’t have a problem with it and the thought has crossed my mind that we should even help to pay for it in some way so that it can be expanded.
I’m probably wrong for reasons I am not aware of (other border security initiatives now ongoing) but I throw the thought out there for consideration.