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| Michelle Malkin: Who’s guarding our military equipment? |
| 2003-10-31 |
| Townhall EFL Innocuous on the surface, but sobering underneath. According to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report I obtained, Raymond Levesque was driving northbound along the I-95 near Houlton, Maine, when he was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol agents. Thank heavens they’re doing their jobs. The agents arrested Levesque for working illegally in the U.S. Levesque said he has been operating as a truck driver in the U.S. for 15 years. He was freed on his own recognizance from the Fort Fairfield Border Patrol station in Maine pending an immigration hearing. (Catch and release is still the order of the day.) The investigative agents keenly noted that, "taken as an isolated incident, the violation concerning Levesque could be of minor interest, however, a possible terrorism nexus here is clear. . . . There are at any given time several hundred military vehicles on site, and security is non-existent. The fact that undocumented foreign nationals are illegally transporting this equipment throughout the U.S. with access to the Limestone facility and other military facilities also would seem to pose a threat." Alain Normand Transport, the Quebec-based firm that contracted out to Levesque, is not even bonded for U.S. military shipments. Rachel Gagnon, a company dispatcher, explained that she learned about the military load from an American freight broker who put out a bid on the Internet. "Nobody said we couldn’t do this," Gagnon told me. The U.S. Army’s Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC), which is responsible for contracting out surface transportation of military arms, ammunition, explosives, vehicles, and other motorized equipment, refuses to comment on what steps it takes to screen out frauds, felons, or potential terrorists. "We work very closely with commercial carriers and all defense transportation partners to ensure the safety and security of all of our shipments," MTMC public affairs officer Corenthia Libby informed me last week. "To safeguard these operational security measures I will not elaborate on the details." The transportation contract was bid on the internet without screening. Maybe Wallmart should be lower on the priority list. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #4 The Brits used to turn around their Vulcans there. The Frogs too, I think. Yikes! the FAF had strategic bombers? Big suckers? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-10-31 6:03:33 PM |
| #3 Loring is in northern Maine. I did some time there, once upon a, and hated it. Damned scrawney pine forests and biting flies. The Brits used to turn around their Vulcans there. The Frogs too, I think. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-10-31 2:02:57 PM |
| #2 Never mind - it's about 50 miles due north, near Caribou. |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-10-31 12:56:49 PM |
| #1 Just checked Mapquest, couldn't find it - how close is Loring AFB to Houlton? |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-10-31 12:54:48 PM |