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U.S. Border Security Will Not Be Militarized, Security Advisor Says

National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley (©AP/WWP)

By Peggy B. Hu
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- If President Bush decides to use the National Guard for border security duties, its role would be limited to supporting civilian border patrol personnel, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said in an interview on CNN's Late Edition May 14.

"It's not about militarization of the border. It's about assisting the civilian border patrol in doing their job, providing intelligence, providing support, logistics support and training and these sorts of things," he said.

Bush is scheduled to discuss immigration policy proposals in a nationally televised address May 15.

Hadley termed border security an important element of immigration reform.  The national security advisor said Bush believes "the proper approach to immigration reform" involves securing borders, increasing internal enforcement and establishing a temporary-worker program "so that willing employers in the United States can have access to willing workers, particularly from Mexico, and to do it in a way that is lawful." (See related fact sheet.)

These steps "will take some of the pressure off on the border and will allow the border patrol to focus on the things we're really worried about, which is crime and narcotics and the like," he said.

Hadley said that a temporary-worker program is not the same thing as amnesty for those who have entered the United States illegally.

"[O]ne of the things the president has said is that anybody who's part of one of these temporary-worker programs, if they look at the issue of citizenship, there are things they will need to do, requirements that they will have to meet," he said.  He added that those who have entered the United States illegally "will have to go to the back of the line" to be fair to "those who have proceeded in the lawful way."

For more information on U.S. policies, see The U.S. and Mexico:  Border/Migration Issues and Visas, Passports and Immigration.

IRAN

Regarding Iran, Hadley said the United States seeks a diplomatic resolution to the problem of that country's nuclear ambitions.

The national security advisor said the next step is for the United Nations Security Council to issue a Chapter 7 resolution.  This type of resolution is binding on all U.N. members and gives the Security Council power to take military action to address threats to peace, breaches of peace or acts of aggression.

The United Nations needs to issue a resolution "that makes clear what Iran needs to do, in terms of reassuring the international community that it has given up its weapons ambitions," he said.

"We are looking at the kinds of sanctions that might be applied if it does not make the right choice. We're also looking at the kinds of benefits that might be applied if Iran does make the right choice," Hadley said.

He noted that the United Kingdom, France and Germany, supported by the United States and Russia, offered a plan in August 2005 that would reaffirm Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, provide assurances of fuel supplies, further Iran’s desire for expanded civilian nuclear energy, offer a new political and security relationship based on cooperation, and propose new frameworks for economic and technological cooperation. (See related article.)

Russia has also made a proposal, which the United States supports, whereby Russia would enrich and reprocess nuclear fuel on its territory but provide Iran with fuel for civil energy needs, he said.  (See related article.)

For more information on U.S. policies, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

The transcript of Hadley's interview is available on the CNN Web site.