WHITEBOARD RESPONSE: SHOULD THE US MILITARY SECURE THE BORDER?
By War Room August 15, 2018
the problem at hand is one of enforcing laws rather than of imposing political aims by force.
What roles, if any, should the military have in policing the U.S. border?
1. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Mihara, Army Strategist, U.S. Army North (Fifth Army)
Some treatments of the role military forces should play in securing US borders fail to square with the fundamental problems that will naturally arise. As a consequence, such arguments are lost in tactical considerations of the moment or in familiar hypotheticals. American borders exist within a stable political context in which alliances and strong institutional partnerships undergird treaties and formal exchanges that enrich the US through efficient supply chains, access to larger markets, etc. The political-economic context of North America is too complex for any solution narrowly focusing on the border. Using the military will not solve the problem.
Militaries are for war. It is true that the US military has been constructively used to bolster law enforcement along its border regions, but those instances should not lead Americans to reflexively embrace permanent US military roles in border security missions. Given the present geopolitical context, the problem at hand is one of enforcing laws rather than of imposing political aims by force.
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/special-series/whiteboard/wb02-military-on-border-2/
