DRONES: TEXAS NEEDS EYES IN THE SKY

Fast-track the paperwork and get drones up and scanning the
Texas-Mexico border. It's a modern way to identify drug-smuggling operations.

There seems to be total agreement that drones can be just as
successful in providing high-resolution views of ground activities
here as they are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The call here, with bipartisan political support, is for unarmed
drones. The holdup is the Federal Aviation Administration, which
requires a paperwork process before authorizing operation of unmanned
aerial systems.

Drones are now in operation over the Arizona-Mexico border, and to
some extent along the New Mexico-Mexico border.

Texas needs drones, too.

Illegal drugs by the tons are coming into the U.S. via the
Texas-Mexico border. Because of enhanced security measures at our
ports of entries, drug cartels are often using remote border areas to
transport the drugs. There have been many reports of law-enforcement
confrontations with drug smugglers in El Paso County.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, says he supports giving Texas'
application for drones priority.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, says the FAA is "dragging its feet,"
and he's also calling for "priority consideration" for drones in Texas.

It's understood that the FAA has a duty to control air traffic over
the U.S. It's a safety issue, and drones are relatively new to all
air spaces around the world.

But we have a border crisis here. There have been nearly 5,000 cartel
drug-war murders since January 2008 in Juarez. The Mexican drug gangs
are said to have some 100,000 members, more than the Mexican
military. And they are better armed. They move from place to place,
wherever there is a hole in border security.

Drones, with their supersensitive surveillance equipment, look to be
an answer to plugging security gaps.

We can't have agents spread every 500 yards from Texas to California,
but we can use drones to spot the drug smugglers and thereby send the
needed law-enforcement teams to the area almost immediately.

The FAA should give priority to allowing for the use of Drones along
Texas' southern border.