Acting Pentagon chief gets up-close look at border issues

EL PASO, Texas — Top defense officials toured sections of the U.S.-Mexico border Saturday to see how the military could reinforce efforts to block drug smuggling and other illegal activity, as the Pentagon weighs diverting billions of dollars for President Donald Trump's border wall.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, accompanied by the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Joseph Dunford, visited a border site called Monument Site 3, where a stretch of 18-foot border wall stands atop a landfill.

Shanahan and Dunford got an up-close look at U.S. Border Patrol vehicles used for surveillance. The Department of Homeland Security has requested Pentagon help in operating about 150 of the vehicle-mounted surveillance cameras, which can see as far as eight miles away.

DHS has yet to provide the details that Shanahan says he needs before making his decision on the repurposing of military construction funds. He has said he is likely to provide the full $3.6 billion the White House is expecting, plus $2.5 billion from the drug interdiction program. Trump authorized the use of these military funds when he declared a national emergency. In India: At least 93 people have died and 200 have been hospitalized after drinking tainted liquor in two separate incidents in India's remote northeast, authorities said Saturday. Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India because the poor cannot afford licensed brands from government-run shops.