(RepublicanNews.org) – A senior Pentagon official revealed last week that drone incursions along the U.S.-Mexico border are occurring in the “thousands,” raising the alarm about additional national security concerns.
On Thursday, March 14, Gens. Laura J. Richardson and Gregory M. Guillot were questioned by Republican Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina about the number of drone encounters that have been occurring at the southern border and the level of risk these incursions pose to homeland security.
Guillot told Budd that when he took command in February, the amount of drone incursions was immediately something that was “alarming” to him. The general clarified that he doesn’t “know the actual number,” which he said he doesn’t think anybody knows yet, but that “it’s in the thousands.” Guillot claimed that he spoke with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), who are responsible for handling incursions by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), as well as the Department of Justice (DOJ), and that officials from both agencies “put the number at thousands.”
When the senator pressed the general to give a specific time frame, Guillot said that it was “probably” over the span of a month. He added that although the number of incursions is alarming, which he said was increasing, there aren’t any indications yet that the UAS encounters pose a homeland security risk.
Guillot also expressed a “big concern” with the number of Chinese immigrants crossing the southern border. He said that “in the short period of time” he’s been in command, he’s visited the border to speak with leadership about the issue, including the CBP’s acting commissioner.
The general said the issue “specifically” concerns him because the Chinese nationals seem to be converging at “one location” along the border and because some may be “counterintelligence” agents hiding among political and economic refugees. Guillot informed the Senate committee that information gathered about Chinese nationals at the southern border is being routinely exchanged by US intelligence agencies, and that “frequent briefings” are held about the subject.
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