As one of a handful of cities on America’s southern border, Tucson’s fortunes are tied to Mexico, said Mayor Bob Walkup.

This makes finding the balance between total security and free trade more than just an abstract goal, he said. “It also means that if we can solve the border issues here, it will go a long way toward solving them everywhere.”

Two borders, two special sets of challenges and many solutions are being offered to address new concerns about security and trade, especially in Arizona.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment ADVERTISEMENT

Bringing them together for one event was the goal, last week, when the ComDef series of conferences came to Tucson. Organized by the International Defense Equipment Exhibitors Association and sponsored by Southern Arizona’s Aerospace, Manufacturing and Information Technology cluster, the two-day series of meeting examined the challenges facing border trade and safety and the various political and technological options being considered to meet them.

Co-sponsored by the Government of Canada, Arizona Department of Commerce, the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, as well as defense contractors Raytheon, Senstar Stellar, OCRI Global Marketing, special attention at the conference was given to cooperative solutions, and moving security from one nation’s concern to something all nations have a stake in preserving.

That’s a requirement, if North America expects to keep leading the world, said speaker Michael Theilmann, a security specialist with the consul general’s office for the Government of Canada. Citing the Berlin Wall as an example, he said nearly perfect security isn’t impossible. “However, the more inward-looking a society is, and the less exchange of people, goods and ideas, the more of a backwater it becomes.”

That’s why North America is at a crossroads, he said. Globalization is an established fact, and the integrated North American economy leads it. “Will it continue to maintain leadership as it attempts to meet border security issues? That will depend on how this challenge is met.”

Theilmann noted that 300,000 people and $2 billion in products cross the U.S.-Canadian border every day, and Canada remains Arizona’s second largest foreign trading partner. “There’s no doubt that there’s a need for proper security because the risks are unprecedented, but that security has to be integrated in such as way as to not create a barrier.”

Until now, a shared and largely unmonitored border has been a source of pride for the U.S. and Canada, noted Michael Cabana, chief superintendent for border integrity with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It’s also a practical necessity, since climate, topography and distance makes physical barriers nearly impossible to construct.

Even if a barrier could be built, Cabana warned, it’s unlikely that it would make the U.S. more secure. “Conspiracies, like Sept. 11, aren’t created on the border. They are conceived miles away.”

That’s why the border is only one aspect of border security, he said. “It has to be part of a continuum of law enforcement, and that means we have to leverage our resources, internationally, to work smarter if we’re going to protect our citizens.”

Providing layers of protection is important, but just as important is recognizing that the challenge of border security is different, depending on which border is being discussed, said Thomas Falanga, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s New York field officer for the new Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). “When I started this job in 1979 our mission was clear, to interdict drugs and collect duties and fees. Since Sept. 11 we have a variety of missions,” he said, and some aren’t compatible.

Protecting U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico is crucial, but even more alarming is the vulnerability of seaports, Falanga said. “The main threat now is the sea carriers. There are several thousand containers on every ship, and we can’t check every one of them.”

A solution has been physical validation beyond U.S. borders, which is the goal of C-TPAT. “If we can secure the supply or merchandise before it comes into the U.S., we can preserve both security and trade, wherever it’s coming from.”

While the level of interest in border security may decline, as time passes, both government and business are proceeding on the assumption that it will still be important, for years to come, said Alain Dudoit, Canadian consul general for the U.S. Southwest, based in Los Angeles. Whether it’s concern over terrorist movements and money transfers, or illegal immigration, drugs and weapons, he said, “These concerns will be with us for the long term.”

He said, “They key is to address them from a North American perspective. International cooperation in the fight against terrorism has already made significant progress.”

For the future, Dudoit said security of the supply chain and broader, multinational, enforcement is the best way to combat criminal conspiracies, including terrorists, “and we can do that without building a fortress.”

Noting that the U.S.-Canadian Action Plan offers a blueprint for this that Mexico has shown interest in adopting, Dudoit said, “If we enhance our cooperative intelligence and monitoring, we can keep free trade and still effectively keep the bad guys in check.”

E-mail comments for publication to

editor@azbiz.com. Contact Philip S. Moore by e-mail at pmoore@azbiz.com or call (520) 295-4238.