U.S. Homeland Security, Beyond U.S.
ABOARD A P- 3 ORION, over the Pacific Ocean — The United States Department of Homeland Security has gone global.
An estimated 2,000 Homeland Security employees now are deployed to more than 70 countries around the world. Hundreds more are either at sea aboard Coast Guard ships or in surveillance planes above the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
The expansion has created tensions with some European countries who say that the United States is trying to export its immigration laws to their territory. But other allies agree with the United States’ argument that its longer reach strengthens international security while preventing a terrorist attack, drug shipment, or human smuggling ring from reaching American soil.
A surveillance mission in December with Homeland Security agents in drug transit zones near South America highlights the department’s efforts to push out the border. Just after takeoff from a Costa Rican airfield, a crew of agents aboard a Customs and Border Protection surveillance plane began tracking a low-flying aircraft that appeared to be headed south toward Ecuador.
The aircraft, which intelligence reports reviewed by agents indicated had no flight plan, flew just a hundred meters or so above the ocean — an apparent attempt to avoid detection by radar. “When they are flying that low, they’re probably up to no good,” said Timothy Flynn, a senior detection agent, watching a radar screen.
An hour later, hiding in the clouds to stay out of sight, the American P- 3 pulled up behind the plane. An agent with a long-lens digital camera snapped photos of the plane’s tail number and other identifying details. Mr. Flynn radioed the information to authorities in Ecuador who were waiting when the plane landed, arresting seven people and seizing more than 350 kilos of cocaine.