Tester, Daines at Senate hearing in Havre

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester convened a hearing in Havre today of the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee he chairs, with Rep. Steve Daines, a member of the House Homeland Security committee also attending.

Hensler Auditorium in the Applied Technology Center at Montana State University-Northern was pretty well packed for the two-hour hearing.

The hearing started with testimony from Hill County Sheriff Don Brostrom, Border Patrol Havre Sector Vice President of the Border Patrol National Council Nathan Burr and Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Debbie Vandeberg on the first panel, who then answered questions about border security and economic impacts.

The second panel comprised U.S. Immigrations and Customs Agent in Charge Kumar Kibble of Denver, Havre Sector Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Christopher Richards and Blackfeet Nation Homeland Security Director Robert DesRosier, all of whom also presented testimony and answered questions from Daines and Tester.

After the hearing closed, Tester and Daines and the panel members took comments and questions from the audience.

Three themes were common at the hearing, of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce that Tester chairs.

The witnesses generally were in agreement that cooperation, collaboration and communication, both between different parts of Homeland Security and between Homeland Security and local, state and tribal law enforcement and other agencies has improved immensely in the last 10 years.

They also agreed that securing the northern border — the single longest international boundary in the world — is difficult because of the wide-open nature of the border in Montana and the lack of roads and access.

Another common comment was that, in the Havre area, access through the Port of Wild Horse, and increasing requirements of of that facility as a commercial port, as well as problems processing Canadian debit cards, makes it more difficult to attract across-border traffic, although Vandeberg said that is a major boon to the Havre-area economy, even with the difficulties.

Watch for an in-depth report of the hearing in Monday’s Havre Daily News.