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MCALLEN, Texas – Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan traveled to a border town in Texas on Saturday and announced plans to speed up planning to secure the border and strengthen the administration's capacity to achieve this without the permanent help of the Pentagon.
He also assured a dozen border patrol agents and other officials at the McAllen Border Patrol Station that the Pentagon would not withdraw its military support prematurely.
"We will not leave until the border is secure," he said, adding that he was not there to identify a problem. It was a matter of solving a problem more quickly. "
Shanahan told Congress last week that there were 4,364 soldiers on the border, including active duty soldiers and National Guards. They set up barriers, provide logistics and transport services, as well as other activities for the protection of customs and borders. Troops are prohibited from performing law enforcement duties. Troops have been deployed at the border since last October and have committed to stay there until September.
On his way to Texas, he dismissed any suggestion that the forces on duty would extend their mission in the long run. "It will not be indefinite," he told reporters traveling with him.
Shanahan also said that he had instructed a two-star army general, Ricky Waddell, to quickly develop a plan answering this question: "How can we get more badges at the border? ? " – a reference to the assurance that the Department of Homeland Security is fully capable of securing the border, its primary mission.
Shortages of personnel and other resources led DHS to periodically request military assistance at the US-Mexico border, without defining a solution to the underlying resource issues.
"What we want is that DHS be effective and autonomous," said Shanahan. The Pentagon is always available to help in case of emergency, as in the past.
DHS on Friday submitted another Pentagon request for assistance, defense officials said Saturday. This request, which has not yet been disclosed before, concerns a shelter for detained migrants, and would include the installation of tents but unsecured by an indeterminate number of military troops, according to officials who have been detained. expressed anonymity to discuss internal issues. Planning.
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Shanahan announced on Friday that it was transferring $ 1.5 billion from numerous defense projects, including $ 604 million originally intended to support Afghan security forces, to a Pentagon fund intended to finance the construction of roadside barriers. US-Mexican border. This is in addition to the billion dollars transferred by the Pentagon for the construction of walls in March.
Shanahan supported the use of active service troops, in addition to the National Guard, to strengthen the CPB's efforts to manage the growing number of Central American migrants seeking to cross the border. But recently he has expressed his impatience at the lack of a long-term strategy for border security.
In his Congressional testimony on May 1, Shanahan stated that General Joseph Dunford, the Joint Chief of Staff, was considering the question of how long the army will need to move to the border and what would be the best way to meet this need.
"The question that he and I are trying to answer," says Shanahan, "how long will we be at the border?" He added, "We really have to go back to our main missions and continue to prepare ourselves to be ready to undertake conventional military operations.
On May 3, Shanahan told reporters that the border crisis had developed faster than expected, putting additional pressure on DHS.
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"I do not think anyone thought it would be so serious, the situation would deteriorate as it was and this distress would be as great for front-line employees (DHS)," he said. .
Many Democrats have questioned the use of active service troops at the border.
"The longer the Southwest Border Mission lasts, the dividing line begins to blur, indicating that it is not a military responsibility, but a responsibility for policing, immigration and homeland security, "said Senator Dick Durbin. , D-Ill., Said at a recent hearing.
As a prelude to the trip, the White House announced on Thursday that Trump intended to appoint Shanahan as Defense Secretary, ending months of speculation about Pentagon leadership. He has been acting since January 1, a period of unprecedented uncertainty at the helm of the Pentagon.
Trump elevated him to the rank of deputy secretary to replace defense secretary Jim Mattis, who resigned in December.
The White House has never explained why it had taken Trump so long to designate Shanahan, a former Boeing Co. executive Trump himself said he wanted to keep cabinet members acting because it gave him more flexibility, although it also thwarted the efforts of the Senate to exercise its constitutional role of advice and consent.
In March, the Defense Department's Inspector General investigated allegations that Shanahan had shown favoritism towards Boeing during his tenure as Deputy Secretary of Defense, while denigrating his competitors. The investigation appeared to dampen his appointment, but the internal watchdog ended the investigation in April and allowed Shanahan to be cleared.
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– Robert Burns
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