El gobierno de EE UU debe cooperar con Canadá y México para rastrear la salida de extranjeros en lugar de gastar dinero en programas piloto destinados al fracaso, indicó el editorial -25/12/2006- del diario The Washington Post: Rastreando el fracaso. (Tracking Failure Another 10 years of border insecurity?)
El Departamento de Seguridad Interna (DHS) "debe proponer maneras de resolver sus problemas logísticos en puntos fronterizos, que podría significar esfuerzos conjuntos con las autoridades de Canadá y México", señaló.
El programa US Visit, establecido por el DHS tras los atentados del 11-S, rastrea a los que ingresan al país pero no a los que salen, debido en parte para evitar elevados costos y la conglomeración de vehículos en los cruces fronterizos, sobretodo con México.
El secretario Michael Chertoff, ha indicado mientras analiza una nueva tecnología para colectar información biométrica para evitar las largas colas, centrará esfuerzos en el rastreo de los extranjeros que salen de los aeropuertos. Esas medidas permitirían que autoridades federales reúnan datos de la mayoría de extranjeros que no son mexicanos ni canadienses, pero la lista sería incompleta porque no podrían rastrear a quienes dejaron expirar sus visas o salieron por puntos terrestres, dijo el diario.
Recordó que muchos de los autores de los atentados de 2001 residían en EE UU aún después del vencimiento de sus visas, lo cual puede ser "una verdadera señal de peligro".
Presionado por un informe reciente de la Oficina de Auditoría del Gobierno (GAO) que dijo que un sistema efectivo de rastreo podría surgir en cinco a 10 años, "el DHS estaría tentado a calmar en forma temporal a los críticos con soluciones a medias", señaló el rotativo. Chertoff "debe vencer esas presiones", indicó el diario en su editorial titulado "Rastreando el fracaso", al señalar que el DHS tiene previsto presentar en enero un plan al respecto al Congreso, "con un año y medio de retraso".
Por otro lado, en un editorial del sábado 24, el diario The New York Times, criticó a la administración del presidente George W. Bush por haber abandonado esfuerzos para monitorear la salida de extranjeros del país debido a los elevados costos. "Esta administración nos continúa recordando sobre los elevados costos que todos debemos pagar por la seguridad del territorio, pero siempre palidece cuando llegan las facturas". El periódico publicó hace dos semanas un artículo que indicó que el DHS tenía previsto rastrear salidas en 50 cruces fronterizos para este diciembre, pero desistió de ese plazo por los elevados costos en tiempo perdido y largas filas.
El editorial:
Tracking FailureAnother 10 years of border insecurity?
The Washington Post, Monday, December 25, 2006; A28
SINCE 1996, Congress has passed a series of laws requiring federal border security officials to collect information on foreign nationals leaving the United States. The goal: to match it with data gathered when those nationals entered the country, creating a database listing all of the non-resident aliens -- minus most Canadians, who are exempt from the program -- in the country at any one time, including information on how long they have been cleared to stay and when they must leave.
If compiled correctly, proponents argue, a searchable pool of border crossing data would do more than just assist in catching a few small-time violators of immigration law. Many of the Sept. 11 hijackers resided in the United States past their visa expiration dates. As one element in an effort for potential terrorists, overstaying a visa can be a real warning sign.
The Department of Homeland Security's two-year-old US-VISIT program reliably tracks only those who enter the country, not those who exit. American border officials take photographs of and gather fingerprints from non-resident aliens entering at land border posts, airports and seaports while those exiting breeze past border guards on the way out.
Now Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says that his department will focus on tracking airport exit traffic, neglecting land border crossings until new technology makes it feasible to collect biometric information without backing up traffic for miles in Detroit, San Diego and other busy border posts. A recent Government Accountability Office report estimates that will take another five to 10 years. Mr. Chertoff argues that targeting airports in the meantime will allow Homeland Security to gather exit data from most of the non-Canadian and non-Mexican foreign nationals exiting the United States, which is better than not gathering any information at all.
But if the database is significantly incomplete, it's of little use. Homeland Security officials will not be able to rely on it to tell them if a foreign national flew in and never left or if he merely drove out without border officers taking note. If Congress and others are right that reliably tracking the movements of only a few individuals might mean the difference between catching a terrorist on American soil or not, then Homeland Security's logistical shortcomings along the country's borders need fixing, and not 10 years from now.
Homeland Security says it will submit a report - already a year and a half late - to Congress early in the new year detailing its plans for biometric tracking at airports and land border posts. After a critical GAO report and a spate of negative media coverage, the department will be tempted to temporarily quiet critics by embracing inadequate half solutions -- such as its recent, abortive attempt to use radio transmitters akin to E-ZPass embedded in immigration documents to track border crossings. It should resist these pressures. Instead of sinking more money into pilot programs doomed to fail, Homeland Security should propose ways to solve its logistical problems at border posts, which might mean teaming up with the Canadian or Mexican authorities.
If compiled correctly, proponents argue, a searchable pool of border crossing data would do more than just assist in catching a few small-time violators of immigration law. Many of the Sept. 11 hijackers resided in the United States past their visa expiration dates. As one element in an effort for potential terrorists, overstaying a visa can be a real warning sign.
The Department of Homeland Security's two-year-old US-VISIT program reliably tracks only those who enter the country, not those who exit. American border officials take photographs of and gather fingerprints from non-resident aliens entering at land border posts, airports and seaports while those exiting breeze past border guards on the way out.
Now Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says that his department will focus on tracking airport exit traffic, neglecting land border crossings until new technology makes it feasible to collect biometric information without backing up traffic for miles in Detroit, San Diego and other busy border posts. A recent Government Accountability Office report estimates that will take another five to 10 years. Mr. Chertoff argues that targeting airports in the meantime will allow Homeland Security to gather exit data from most of the non-Canadian and non-Mexican foreign nationals exiting the United States, which is better than not gathering any information at all.
But if the database is significantly incomplete, it's of little use. Homeland Security officials will not be able to rely on it to tell them if a foreign national flew in and never left or if he merely drove out without border officers taking note. If Congress and others are right that reliably tracking the movements of only a few individuals might mean the difference between catching a terrorist on American soil or not, then Homeland Security's logistical shortcomings along the country's borders need fixing, and not 10 years from now.
Homeland Security says it will submit a report - already a year and a half late - to Congress early in the new year detailing its plans for biometric tracking at airports and land border posts. After a critical GAO report and a spate of negative media coverage, the department will be tempted to temporarily quiet critics by embracing inadequate half solutions -- such as its recent, abortive attempt to use radio transmitters akin to E-ZPass embedded in immigration documents to track border crossings. It should resist these pressures. Instead of sinking more money into pilot programs doomed to fail, Homeland Security should propose ways to solve its logistical problems at border posts, which might mean teaming up with the Canadian or Mexican authorities.
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