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Border Security Initiative Boosts Coast Guard Funds
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

Coast Guard officials have mobilized more than 2,000 reservists in the largest homeland defense and port security operation since World War II.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
President Bush is launching a border security initiative that includes new funds for the U.S. Coast Guard.

New threats demand a new approach to how the United States protects its borders, according to White House officials. Border security must protect the country from terrorist attack, illegal migration and drugs and all other external threats. At the same time, they said, security measures should pose little or no obstacle to legitimate trade and travel.

The president is slated to present his fiscal 2003 budget request to Congress Feb. 4. White House officials say the new budget includes $10.7 billion for border security, an increase of $2.1 billion from the 2002 budget. The added funding begins the process of achieving the president's vision of the border of the future.

If approved, the president's 2003 budget would increase the Coast Guard's homeland security mission by $282 million, for a total of $2.9 billion.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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