DRUG TUNNEL: NEED FOR BORDER SECURITY EMPHASIZED

Tunnels under the border between Mexico and the United States aren't
really unusual. Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement said that since the early 1990s, 125 tunnels have been
found at various points along the border. Seventy-five of those have
been discovered in the past four years.

The latest tunnel, running under the California-Mexico border, was
busted Tuesday and 20 tons of marijuana was found on the U.S. side of
the border and four tons turned up on the Mexican side.

Additionally, 10 tons of pot was found in a tractor-trailer that had
been loaded at a warehouse in Otay Mesa, on the American side where
the tunnel surfaced.

The 1,800-foot tunnel, complete with a rail system, lighting and
ventilation, was no doubt the work of a cartel trying to get drugs
into California and then beyond.

But the tunnel, and the number of them that have been discovered, make
you wonder about the possibility of terrorists using the tunnels to
enter this country and cause death and destruction.

Reports surfaced last year of purported al-Qaida plans to smuggle
anthrax across the southern border via an underground tunnel. Such a
possibility must be considered.

This is just another reason that the federal government must take
border security more seriously than it has. Sending a few National
Guard troops and a few more Border Patrol agents isn't going to cut
it.

The violence along the northern border of Mexico makes what else is
happening there a little more fuzzy. But it's certainly not beyond
belief that there are terrorists in Mexico, probably operating with
relative impunity in the surrounding chaos.

Republicans who will be marching triumphantly into congressional
chambers on Jan. 1 have many targets and many agendas. But they would
do well, along with Democrats, to make border security a major issue.

Cap-and-trade, health care, the Bush tax cuts, the housing crisis, a
faltering economy and more are important matters to be dealt with. But
if a terrorist gets across the southern U.S. border and is loose in
the country, other issues could suddenly become less pressing.

The recent discovery in California shows that the tunnel strategy is
still viable in the eyes of drug smugglers, even though it was
discovered relatively quickly. And if it works for drug smugglers, it
could work for others.