New Battlefronts

The war on terror has a new battlefront; our waterways and boating areas. In a decision announced recently, the Department of Homeland Security is considering enlisting the help of nearly 80,000 boaters that pepper the United States in order to gain added manpower in keeping an eye on our waterways. So the picture that you see here might become a harsh reality sooner than we think. While the request isn't officially official, there is enough backing to the suggestion to assume that it could become a reality soon enough.

Part of the motivation for this decision is the fact that there is such a vast area of water to defend and not enough resources to defend them. The Coast Guard is there but there's only so many places that they can be. I mean just how many boats do you think are defending the Great Lakes which are unbordered entry and exit points into Canada? Not that the Canadians are planning a Normandy style invasion of the northern areas of the United States but it's certainly worth considering isn't it? Seeing as how the budget is currently a bit tighter than we'd all like, the decision comes down to using what you have and what we have are 80,000 boaters who can help lend a hand...er... boat.

One common complaint that has been heard repeatedly is that there are lots of calls that are made by boaters about suspicious activity on the water but that the Coast Guard and state police don't always have the time to check out each and every report. That's not surprising what with so many places to protect and so many paranoid people out there. Not that you shouldn't report someone in a boat taking excessive pictures of bridges and dams but honestly, are we to assume that someone taking a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge is doing it in order to plan a major terrorist attack? Not that everyone doing so is, but how are we the people to determine this?

I remember back when the DC Sniper case was making the news and reports had been released about the type of vehicle apparently being used in the attacks. A white boxed cargo van. Immediately every vehicle that resembled that vehicle was viewed with such suspicion and scrutiny that anyone and everyone was spotting them. Leave aside the fact that the suspects were eventually arrested in a car that had no resemblence whatsoever to a white box cargo van. But what it proves is that when you're given a certain set of parameters, you use what you know or what you have heard to maintain your vigilance. Do we really need citizens out there being erstwhile police? As it is the reports that are filed are not always followed up on by authorities due to lack of manpower; do any of us really think that having private citizens officially requested to be aware will make that much of a difference?