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Their job: Backup

BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

May 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - The National Guard is renowned for its front-line military role in Iraq, but the 420 guard members now assigned to the Mexican border are mostly technicians who tote laptops, surveillance gear and blueprints, not guns.

Since 1989, guard troops have been deployed in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California to support U.S. Border Patrol agents, federal drug enforcement agencies and police, according to guard officials.

That number could temporarily rise to 6,000 under President George W. Bush's border initiative - but the new troops, like the old ones, will steer clear of arresting smugglers and interlopers.

"We don't have badges. We don't have guns. We're not a law enforcement organization because we don't have that kind of training," said a guard officer on the border.

Asked what one of his soldiers would do if he or she encountered smugglers, the officer replied: "Nothing, because he wouldn't be out there. He'd be in the sheriff's office working on a computer database."

That's not to say the guard doesn't play a significant role. Guard aircraft, including OH-58 Kiowa helicopters, patrol the border and specialists set up high-tech listening posts.

But most of the troops aren't armed, officers say, and their derring-do will never be featured on "Cops." That's because each state guard and local authorities sign a memorandum of understanding each year restricting troops from engaging in law enforcement.

"We're not in the lead," said Lt. Col. Nahaku McFadden, a National Guard spokeswoman based in Washington. "We always support local or federal law enforcement ... Any information we may receive, we pass on to them."

In February, Texas Gov. Rick Perry employed guard intelligence officers to establish a border security office in Austin. Last week, National Guard pilots flew drills near the border in Val Verde County.

More often the soldiers do less glamorous, if essential, work. New Mexico's 70 border-area troops are building an 80-mile vehicle barrier, while others dismantle vehicles during drug searches at crossing points, said Lt. Col Kimberly Lalley of the state's National Guard.

Lalley, like many local officials, sees Bush's plan as public validation of the guard's 17 quiet years on the border.

"Maybe this will help us get more money," she said.