It all began routinely enough in Port Angeles. More than a year and a half later, though, we are still learning more about the value of U.S. Customs agents’ arrest of one person who seemed a little too nervous about crossing the border.
Congress should take a lesson from what is now being learned from Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian caught trying to bring bomb-making equipment from Canada in December 1999. The customs service needs enough personnel, particularly inspectors and border patrol agents, to be able to protect the country from those seeking to import terrorism across the largely unguarded border with Canada.
Because of Ahmed Ressam’s arrest, European and U.S. intelligence agencies have come across a North African network of terrorists that are attempting to operate globally. And the terrorist group that sponsored Ressam apparently has ties to Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, although the North African group seems to operate on its own.
The emerging understanding of terrorism largely stems from information Ressam has given federal authorities since his conviction in April for attempted terrorism. As Vincent Cannistraro, former head of the CIA’s counterterrorism operations, told National Public Radio last week, Ressam’s interviews have opened up a whole new window into terrorism. Cannistraro said, "Almost all of it is absolutely new information because it pertains to the network this Algerian group has."
So far, four people, including Ressam, have been convicted in the plot to blow up a U.S. target as the year 2000 was beginning. It turned out that Los Angeles International Airport, rather than Seattle’s Space Needle, was the actual target.
In addition, it now appears to U.S. and European authorities that both Bin Laden and the Algerian network were involved with the attack that claimed the lives of 17 sailors aboard the USS Cole last year.
As the Los Angeles Times has recently described it, many would-be terrorists, such as Ressam, have received training at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and been sent home to await orders from various networks. The new knowledge will help European and U.S. authorities head off any number of plots here, in Europe and elsewhere. One plot to bomb a U.S. embassy in New Delhi was uncovered this summer. But the sprawling network also means that law enforcement work must always be maintained at strong levels along U.S. borders.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen has fought for more Customs Service personnel this year along the northern border with Canada. The nation’s obsession the Mexican border has repeatedly led to cuts here, particularly during the Clinton administration. The Ressam revelations underscore the foolishness of that approach. And, there are plenty of reasons to put more effort into the northern border. As Larsen has argued, more agents are needed to keep traffic flowing at border crossings and to provide adequate levels of routine law enforcement at a time when trade is increasing.
As they finish their budgeting work, Congress and the Bush administration must keep in mind the need for more help on the northern border.
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