SENATOR SHAPLEIGH TO SPEAK ABOUT BORDER SECURITY AT CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON D.C.
February 10, 2009
“In DC, we need to define what ‘border security’ means. Here on the front lines, we face three separate challenges: violent, international, criminal gangs; a broken immigration system; and free trade seriously impaired by the failure to invest in smart, fast, secure ports. That’s the story we need to tell.”
Written by Senator Eliot Shapleigh, www.shapleigh.org
EL PASO - On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, Senator Shapleigh will participate as a guest speaker at “Cross Talk II: Building Common Security in North America,” in Washington, D.C.
The objective of the event is to engage public and private sector officials and key policy networks in Canada, the United States and Mexico to discuss and develop policy options and recommendations toward building more sustainable security in North America.
In the years following September 11, 2001, resulting security policy changes by the United States have had mixed results. September 11 served to “thicken” the border, strongly impacted governmental agencies that work in the border regions and failed to significantly advance cross-border risk assessment in the face of a number of potential threats, such as pandemics.
The conference is the result of collaboration between The North American Center for Transborder Studies (NACTS) at Arizona State University, the Center for Dialogue and Analysis on North America at Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus and the Mexico and Canada Institutes at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Senator Shapleigh will participate in the panel, " Local/Regional Solutions and Sharing Risks" on February 10 at 3:00 p.m. The panel will explore what North American security cooperation should look like from a local perspective.
The conference continues February 11. The Conference takes place at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. For more information on the conference, please click here.