More than 45 million trucks and cars will cross this year from Canada into the United States, any one of which could be carrying terrorists, concealing weapons of mass destruction, hiding illegal aliens or transporting illicit drugs, The Washington Times reported.

A two-month investigation by The Times, including a month-long tour of ports of entry and Border Patrol stations from Washington state to Maine, found that because protecting the U.S.-Canada border was never a priority — not for the White House or Congress — adequate funding never has been available, leaving authorities to play catch-up after September 11.

Controlling America's 4,121-mile northern border is a daunting challenge, especially because neither the United States nor Canada — the two largest trading partners in the world — have wanted security enhancements to jeopardize the free flow of trade, The Times reported.

The paper reported:

• Illegal aliens from as many as 60 nations — including China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria, South Korea, Yemen and Mexico — are being caught every year trying to sneak into the United States from Canada, according to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
• A global network of international terrorists, including members of al Qaeda, has established "sleeper cells" throughout Canada, where members have the capability and conviction to support terrorist activities across North America.
• The northern boundary remains an unwieldy domain to which innovative drug smugglers adapt, using everything from horses and snowmobiles to airplanes and boats to traverse it.

Some technological progress

Along with an array of seismic meters, infrared devices, magnetic sensors and sophisticated software programs, some of the newest technology being used or developed along the northern border includes:

• VACIS, the Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System, which searches trucks, containers, cargo and passenger vehicles for explosive devices, contraband and people using gamma rays, which are similar to X-rays and produce images that are scanned by border inspectors.
• Radiation detectors, mounted on more than two dozen specially equipped trucks at ports of entry along the border to scan trucks and cars for radiation emissions — part of a customs effort to detect weapons of mass destruction, including so-called "dirty bombs" that terrorists might try to use in this country.
• The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, which requires businesses to assess their supply chain, providing specific information about their trucks, drivers, cargos, suppliers and routes. Seven Fortune 500 companies helped develop the program — BP America, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Motorola, Sara Lee and Target — and more than 4,000 have since signed up.
• A video-surveillance system known as "smart camera" installed at several ports of entry along the northern border. The multimillion-dollar program, developed by ObjectVideo of Reston, VA, combines the use of artificial intelligence with surveillance cameras to detect unusual movements along the border.

Some statistics

Meanwhile, on the 1,940-mile southern border, customs has assigned 9,539 Border Patrol agents, compared with 999 on the 4,121-mile northern border. It has 4,733 customs, immigration and agricultural inspectors in the south and 3,256 in the north.

Down south, agents and inspectors battle undocumented immigrants, along with alien and drug smugglers, while examining $250 billion in annual cross-border trade — and checking for terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. Those officers have made more than 14 million arrests since 1993 and will take into custody 1 million people this year alone — about 2,800 a day.

In the north, the agents and inspectors are part of an enforcement strategy that historically has been aimed at facilitating the free flow of trade, more than $500 billion this year. They have made fewer than 140,000 arrests since 1993, with 10,000 expected this year — about 28 a day.

Many border agents and inspectors think that increased technology and manpower, although warranted and appreciated, are not the only answers to gaining control of the border, particularly in the fight to guard against terrorism.

They said Canada's lax immigration laws allow aliens from around the world — including those from Islamic nations that embrace terrorism — to enter that country with little or no scrutiny and to stay indefinitely.