A December agreement between U.S. and Canadian officials to work together on border security is getting nowhere fast.
United Press International reports that the two countries are having a hard time agreeing how to keep terrorists from crossing the border into the United States without crippling the truck cargo movement across the border.
A key part of the agreement was that the two countries would develop ways to pre-clear regular, unthreatening traffic across the border. However, talks to implement that agreement are reportedly going nowhere.
"The talks now look mired in the ground," David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, told the news service. Bradley said some factions in the U.S. government "want an inspector to check every truck. That just won't work."
Canadians like Bradley believe U.S. Customs is unwilling to accept electronic systems that would pre-certify trucks from major shippers and their drivers. An official of an American trucking trade group told the UPI that the problem is, Customs is not technologically prepared to adopt such systems.
UPI reports that the situation is made worse by disagreeing factions within the Bush Administration. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge apparently has a different view that Immigration and Naturalization Service officials. The INS and the Border Patrol are under the control of Attorney General John Ashcroft, and Ridge is known to have clashed with Ashcroft on security issues.
United Press International reports that the two countries are having a hard time agreeing how to keep terrorists from crossing the border into the United States without crippling the truck cargo movement across the border.
A key part of the agreement was that the two countries would develop ways to pre-clear regular, unthreatening traffic across the border. However, talks to implement that agreement are reportedly going nowhere.
"The talks now look mired in the ground," David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, told the news service. Bradley said some factions in the U.S. government "want an inspector to check every truck. That just won't work."
Canadians like Bradley believe U.S. Customs is unwilling to accept electronic systems that would pre-certify trucks from major shippers and their drivers. An official of an American trucking trade group told the UPI that the problem is, Customs is not technologically prepared to adopt such systems.
UPI reports that the situation is made worse by disagreeing factions within the Bush Administration. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge apparently has a different view that Immigration and Naturalization Service officials. The INS and the Border Patrol are under the control of Attorney General John Ashcroft, and Ridge is known to have clashed with Ashcroft on security issues.
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