Statement by Congressman Michael McCaul, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee, on the administration's border security announcement:

"Fifteen months after I first requested National Guard troops be deployed to the US-Mexico border I am encouraged to see the Obama administration has finally decided to acknowledge this threat to our national security. While this is a good first step, the President’s request does not represent a commitment to the number of troops requested. I continue to urge the administration to ensure our border agents have ample resources, permanently increase the number of federal agents, authorize a dedicated number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Texas and expedite the use of Department of Defense surveillance technology that has been used successfully in Iraq and Afghanistan. Until the United States is committed to a comprehensive border security strategy, we will continue to experience the illegal trafficking that threatens our nation."

Last month McCaul passed an amendment to H.R. 4842, the "Homeland Security Science and Technology Authorization Act of 2010", encouraging the Department of Homeland Security to consider using Department of Defense technologies along the US-Mexico border and elsewhere as a measure to expedite security and save taxpayer dollars.

McCaul authored the 2006 report A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border exposing the rise of the drug cartels and the potential exploitation of our borders by terrorist groups.