Paul Vallely A Practical, Operational Plan to Secure the Borders

A PRACTICAL, OPERATIONAL PLAN TO

SECURE THE BORDERS
War on the Southern Border

Author: Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely

Date: Jun. 17, 2010
http://www.thepostemail.com/2010/06/17/war-on-the-southern-border/

President James K. Polk advocated westward expansion and presided over the Mexican-American
War following the annexation of Texas in 1845.

(Jun. 17, 2010) Since the Mexican Independence from Spain in 1821,1 there has always
been the question of who owned what in the West. Since invading the New World, Spain
controlled a vast territory that included all of modern-day Mexico all the way through
California and Utah, not to mention Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. Arguments go in many
directions, but the fact of the matter is that in 1846, President Polk called for the invasion of
Mexico. It was a bloody war, based mostly on the principle of Manifest Destiny, but it was
also based on the principle that Colonialism left a void of epic proportions in the West, and
the areas that Spain once controlled were nothing more than a set of violent fiefdoms.

Expansion into the West by Americans and many other peoples from across the globe meant
that the USA of the day was going to have take control of the lawlessness and bitter disputes
over the land Spain had to give up. Spain never did recognize the Independence, and if not for
a coup in Spain, Mexico might still have been part of Spain. One must remember that in those
days, it was Spain that had conquered everything and pillaged all its wealth.

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By the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo,2 signed February 2, 1848, at the close of the Mexican
War, the Republic of Mexico was compelled to abandon its claim to Texas and to cede to the
United States the territory now comprising most of New Mexico, Arizona, California,
Colorado, Utah and Nevada. The territory ceded to the United States by Mexico constituted
about 200,000 square miles, or two-fifths of all her territory.

In return for this vast territory, the United States gave $15,000,000 and assumed
responsibility for paying $3,000,000 in claims of American citizens against the Mexican
Government. Further, in an attempt to find a better way to transport displaced Indian tribes,
James Gadsden,3 on behalf of President Franklin Pierce, purchased a huge swath of land
below the Gila River from Santa Ana, who as Dictator of Mexico was deposed soon after.

Regardless of the many claims of groups today, the territorial boundaries were set in law. The
fact that the time in which all this took place was one of upheaval, bitter resentment, claims
galore from all sides; it was incorporated into the present United States and is the
internationally-recognized border. Therefore, it is to be protected, just as Oregon, or
Massachusetts, or Maine, or any other state, each with all their claims of original ownership
by some groups, especially the indigent peoples of the early days.

It is now time to enforce the rule of law, not to kowtow to special interest groups or claims by
open-border believers and La Raza.4 The fact is, the Citizens of the USA are in danger and are
being killed because the border states of Mexico are controlled by thugs. Once again, the
entire area is festooned with upheaval, violence, and lawlessness as it was in 1846. The
northern states in Mexico5: Baja California Norte, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo
Leon, and Tamaulipas, are under rogue control, and the Mexican police cannot control them.
Therefore, it is in the national interest of the United States to invade and restore order
because of this clear and present danger to US Citizens and our economy.

If our federal government will not execute an operational plan to secure our southern
borders, then the States and the people must do it. However, let me provide an executable
plan of operations for the federal government to undertake with resolve and commitment to
protect and secure the American people.

I do not have to take the time in this article to explain to the readers the threat and the
problems on and across our southern borders of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas,
as it is on the news every day. You would have to live in a perpetual and virtual cave not to
know the situation. We have a war of gigantic proportionsillegal invasions, treacherous drug
cartels, gangs, human trafficking, drugs (is there not a war on drugs???), smuggling,
kidnappings, and corruption of officials on both sides of the borders. Now if I were the
Commander-in-Chief, I would be on a war-footing and I would have my military commanders
planning and executing a strategy that will defeat swiftly and decisively these cancerous
enemies.

The plan is basic and advanced unconventional/conventional war planning. This combines
the best use of our forces that will encompass intelligence, targeting, and structural
organization to accomplish the mission, base operations, offensive and defensive operations.
First, organize three (3) Border Task Force Groups (BTFGs) and position them in three
operational bases: one in Texas, one in Arizona and one in Southern California. We have
existing bases in those states that can be used. There is no requirement to create any new

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bases. I will not name these existing bases because of operational security, but the
Department of Defense can easily figure this out! The BTFGs will be organized based on joint
task forces of Special Ops, Army, Air Force and Navy. Selected units and personnel will be
relocated and moved to these designated bases.

There will be approximately 5,000 warriors assigned to each BTFG. The organization will be
commanded by a Two-Star Warrior, and each of the three BTFGs will be commanded by
Brigadier General. The mission for the Command will be to target and conduct offensive and
defensive operations on the Mexican side of the border. National Guard, Border Patrol, DEA,
and local sheriffs units will conduct border security operations on the United States side of
the border. This initiative does not violate any existing Posse Comitatus laws.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. 1385) passed on June
18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction,6 with the intention (in concert with the
Insurrection Act of 1807)7 of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to
use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal
uniformed services8 (today the Army, Navy, Air Force, and State National Guard forces
when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law
enforcement,9 police, or peace officer powers that maintain law and order10 on non-
federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United
States. The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National
Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United
States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard
is exempt from the Act.

The National Guard will be the asset of the State Governors to be used as required to augment
the Active Force BTFGs operations on the US side of the border. Remove the Department
of Homeland Security from this action completely.

Maximum use must be made of our Special Operators, Delta Force, Special Forces, Seals, AF
Special Ops, Rangers, Marine Recon and Special Ops Air Assets and augmented by Active
Force regular Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.

The concerns and anxiety of Americans, particularly in the Border States, have grown
significantly in the past year. Governor Jan Brewer has had to take extraordinary legislative
action to help rectify the situation, and we applaud her and others in Arizona for their
initiative and courage. Changes in law enforcement operations have forced smugglers of
drugs and illegal aliens into ever more isolated areas, increasing the number of deaths and the
level of violence to a point where even the most hardened enforcement officials are alarmed.
The number of arrests made by Border Patrol agents is one of the few reliable measurements
of the rising influx. That number dropped right after 9/11, but it has since been climbing. In
fact, the cost of protecting the nations borders has increased 58 percent since 9/11, but in
three of the four years since the attacks, the number of people nabbed by the Border Patrol
still increased. In the fiscal year that ended in September, the Border Patrol reported 1.19
million arrests, compared with 932,000 in fiscal year 2003. The Pew Hispanic Center
estimates that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown from 8.4
million in 2000 to 15 million today.

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The political ferment over illegals has never been greater. Seventy-eight percent of Americans
think and know that the government is not doing enough to control our borders; talk shows
bristle with demands for action. Additionally, Global jihad and jihadis are a major threat as
they eye the southern border as a path of least resistance to strike inside the United States.
America We must act NOW for the welfare and security of our precious nation.

EndNotes:

1 http://tinyurl.com/2w2tju2

2 http://www.progress.org/gads.htm

3 http://www.progress.org/gads.htm

4 http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=13863

5 http://www.maps-of-mexico.com/mexico_states.shtml

6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era_of_the_United_States

7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act

8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States

9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_agency_powers

10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_and_order_%28politics%29

Paul E. Vallely, Major General, US Army (Ret.), was born in DuBois, PA. He retired in 1992
from the US Army as Deputy Commanding General, US Army, Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
General Vallely graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point and was
commissioned in the Army in 1961, serving a distinguishing career of 32 years. He served in
many overseas theaters to include Europe and the Pacific Rim Countries as well as two
combat tours in Vietnam. He has served on US security assistance missions on civilian-
military relations to Europe, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Central America with in-
country experience in Indonesia, Colombia, El Salvador, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala.
General Vallely is a graduate of the Infantry School, Ranger and Airborne Schools,
Jumpmaster School, the Command and General Staff School, The Industrial College of the
Armed Forces and the Army War College. His combat service in Vietnam included positions
as infantry company commander, intelligence officer, operations officer, military advisor and
aide-de-camp. He has over fifteen (15) years experience in Special Operations, Psychological
and Civil-Military Operations.

He has served as a consultant to the Commanding General of the Special Operations

Command as well as the DOD Anti-Drug and Counter-Terrorist Task Forces. He also
designed and developed the Host-Nation Support Program in the Pacific for the DOD and the

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State Department. He has in-country security assistance experience in Israel, Iraq, Kuwait, El
Salvador, Colombia and Indonesia in the development of civil-military relations interfacing
with senior level military and civilian leadership.

General Vallely has been a military analyst on television and radio for over nine years. He is a
guest lecturer on National Security matters and the War against Global Jihad. He co-authored
the books Endgame Blueprint for Victory for Winning the War on Terror,
Warfooting and Baghdad Ablaze. He is a member and founder of the Iran Policy
Committee. He was the senior military analyst for the Fox News Channel from 2000-2007.
His new book, Operation Sucker Punch, was released in January 2009. He is Chairman
of StandUpAmerica and Co-Chairman of Veteran Defenders of America.

He and his wife, Marian, are the co-trustees of the Scott Vallely Soldiers Memorial
Fund and reside in Montana.

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