America's Talking - Former Border Patrol Agent Asks 23 Years After 9/11: What Does ‘Safe’ Mean?

Episode Date: September 14, 2024

Twenty-three years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans are not any safer than they were before because of a border crisis facilitated by the Biden-Harris administration, national security experts argue. One U.S. Army veteran who later served as a Border Patrol agent for 10 years but left citing Biden-Harris policies told The Center Square that Americans’ safety and security means something different depending on the administration in charge. Since fiscal 2021, more than 12.5 million foreign nationals have illegally entered the country under Vice President Kamala Harris, designated the “border czar” by President Joe Biden. That's by far the greatest number of any administration in U.S. history. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire Service. Americans across the country commemorated the 23rd anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed 2,97 people. Joining me to discuss this and what it means today is Casey Harper, Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for the Center Square. Casey, let's start with the commemoration. you're much younger than I am. What are your memories of that tragic day? Sure, of course, I was much younger, but I do have vivid memories of it.

I remember watching it on TV. I remember the general feeling. I remember how others reacted to it. The soberness of it is one of the probably, I mean, at that point of my life, one of the most serious thing that it ever happened. And it was kind of a, you know, you got a lot older and a. day. I think. I mean, I was still in grade school, but you had this sense of unity. I remember that, of course, it was tragic, and I'd never seen anything like what happened to the towers and

the Pentagon before. But there was a sense of national unity afterwards that I had never experienced either. And I don't think we've experienced since, Dan, but a sense of where we were all Americans, where we all cared for one another. There was people more friendly, you know, more people were in church. People were much more patriotic. The radio stations were not talking about, you know, gossip or negativity. They were, they all had kind of a unified tone and were playing more hopeful music. It was just kind of a surreal time. And then, of course, the war came soon after that and that has all its own story to it. But it's a day of tragedy that led to a time of unity after that we really haven't seen since.

Yeah, I agreed with you. I was in the news business at the time, editor of the paper, a newspaper in Indiana, but I happened to be on vacation that day, that week, that entire week, well, until September 11th happened. My wife and I had our nine-month-old son, our firstborn. We were in Cleveland the night before September 10th. We took our son to his first baseball game. The Cleveland Indians the next morning, my wife and I were in the hotel getting ready to pack up

and head back when we heard the news, turned on the TV, watched probably the first hour of it in the hotel room, and then got in our car and listened on the radio the whole drive back. And surreal is really the only term I can think of. It was a long drive back and a quiet drive back as we listened to the news on the radio. 23 years later, we still commemorate that day. Remember the victims, nearly 3,000 of them. Of course, you mentioned, we got into two different wars over 9-1-1. just got out of Afghanistan a couple years ago.

Unfortunately, that was tragic. Our exiting of Afghanistan, several military members and others were killed in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. And now today, with the ongoing border crisis, many national security experts, former Border Patrol chiefs, are telling us that the country isn't any safer than it was. on September 1st, 2001. More than 12 million people have illegally entered the country. Of those, more than 2 million are what's known as Godaways, those who successfully illegally cross into the U.S. without being apprehended, without being arrested. And we don't know who they are, where they are. We do know that more than 1,000 individuals on the terrorist watch list have been apprehended, entering the country. But what we don't know is how many of those gotaways were or are on

the terrorist. Our Bethany Blankley, a reporter, border correspondent, wrote a story this week, talking to three separate national security experts about it and their concerns. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, a theme after 9-11 became American safety. There's a real sense in which we never thought anything like this could have happened. And we were totally unprepared for when it did happen. And even the response, you know, I mean, so many firefighters and first responders were killed trying to help. And even, you know, it wasn't just the Twin Towers. It was, you know, the Pentagon, which is the symbol of American defense and the defense, you know, infrastructure.

And if they can hit the Pentagon, I mean, who is safe? So there's a real question about what is safety in the U.S. And so you saw the TSA, for example, crop up after that. And, you know, the experience at the airport became much more laborious and security focus. You're taking off your shoes. I mean, you know, there was a time before that. People may not remember. But there was a time when going to the airport was like getting on the bus or something, getting on the train.

But no longer. And then, you know, of course, widespread surveillance of Americans began after this in the name of safety. and the controversy over that, the ability for phones, which cell phones were really coming into their own at that point. And there was no iPhones, but they followed soon after. And there was just a sense that maybe widespread security was necessary, or surveillance, at least at some level, could be justified for American security. So we've been in this ongoing conversation about security, but recently that conversation has died down and other political themes have followed. And it's kind of led to this weird juxtaposition of things that are really oxymoronic.

For instance, we've given the government power to monitor your cell phone at will. We know they can do that even if it's turned off. So they can and do spy on Americans in the name of security. And yet the southern border is totally unprotected and wide open. We have to go through extensive lines and take off our shoes to get on airplanes. But anyone from any country can simply walk across the southern border and they do to the tunes of millions right now. And so, you know, we're busing in or flying in people from like these Haitians that have been flown into the Midwest by the thousands into communities and seeing, you know, the consequences of that. So, you know, American safety is in a new stage or even, you know, some of these overseas wars.

I mean possibly provoking World War III with Russia with some of our decisions and how that plays into American safety. So it's a whole, it's a new era. The idea of Americans' safety doesn't have that same poles it in. It's led to some weird policies, Dan. And of course, the, as you mentioned earlier, the chaotic and deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan was in some ways a sort of an end to that 9-11 season because we've been in Afghanistan. for more than two decades. And I can't imagine having, you know, of course I wasn't, but I can't imagine having been a soldier there because the Biden administration, you know, it's one thing to leave,

which many both sides, presidents of both sides promised to do. But the Biden administration did not just leave Afghanistan. They handed the Taliban Afghanistan after all this time. And it wasn't, you know, there was no Afghanistan government that was even able to put up a fight for me for, you know, a month or a year, it was immediately handed back to the Taliban, which is kind of a sad ending to a sort of sad season in American history. Yeah, no doubt about that. Casey, you mentioned up top, you know, the unity that all Americans felt in the hours and days and weeks and months after the deadly terror attacks.

We don't really have that now. Of course, when a presidential election season, the country seems more polarized than ever. But we remember. Let's leave it at that. Thank you for joining us today. Casey, listeners can keep up with all the national news at thecenter square.com.