The first line of defense is at our own borders. As technology increases, border patrol agents are able to use better surveillance equipment. With the use of the internet, border agents are able to confirm illegal immigrants through visual identification via improved surveillance monitoring. Border officers are prompted to conduct interviews with suspicious travelers; detailed screenings are now more effective due to higher facial scanning technology. The government is also issuing funds in order to hire more special agents and general border patrol officers. Although securing our borders is very important, Rumsfield believes that the damage is already in effect. Undercover terrorists are most definitely already inside our borders. That is why our next line of defense was erected.
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Our second line of defense is aimed toward securing and defending main infrastructures and key assets in America. Head defense officials had to put defense teams in "high danger" zones. Nuclear and vital petrol facilities will be on the highest alert. The government assigned the Coast Guard to defend all maritime petroleum centers up and down the coast. Some other high alert areas consist of electrical grids, bridges, subway systems, etc. In order to secure these facilities, more extensive personal background checks are required and new highly trained agents will secure the premises. According to LaPorte and Frederickson, "Good machinery and competent operators must be matched by a management approach that emphasizes the development of teams operating in collegial, flexible, and decentralized authority patterns" (37). Bridges are also on high alert because of their importance to our society. All large trucks are searched before crossing over designated bridges. Take for instance the Golden Gate Bridge which is fifteen minutes from where I live. If that bridge were to be taken out by terrorists, it not only would financially disrupt San Francisco temporarily, but it would scar its inhabitants just like it did in New York two years ago when the two towers fell.