Protecting our Northern Border: Enhancing Collaboration and Building Local Partnerships

The border between the United States and Canada is the longest shared international border in the world – consisting of over 5,500 miles, including 545 miles in the state of Montana.  Securing such an expansive border requires a multi-faceted approach.  In addition to a smart and effective deployment of technology and manpower, we must also be doing everything we can to ensure federal, local, state and Canadian partners are working very closely and collaboratively. 

This field hearing sought to identify some of the challenges confronting that task, including overlapping jurisdictions of government agencies that could impede our efforts and potentially create critical gaps in security along the border.  The hearing also sought to identify and highlight various opportunities for collaboration and cost-sharing, including stronger partnerships between agencies, local officials, tribes and the private sector to secure our border and preserve the cross-border commerce that is critical to economic development and job creation.