Whether they are monitoring activity at bustling airports and seaports or covering vast, remote regions, government agents charged with protecting U.S. borders struggle to meet the increasing demands of the times. Lingering fears from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks continue to shape those demands.

One solution is to increase the number of employees. Homeland Security Department officials announced in March, for example, that they were assigning more than 500 additional Border Patrol agents to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants across the Arizona desert region.

Congress had included plans to add 10,000 border agents in five years as part of the National Intelligence Reform Act signed into law late last year, though President Bush's 2006 budget proposal included funding for only a little more than 200.

But adding more employees is unlikely to completely solve the problem. In a December 2004 report on DHS' major management challenges, the department's inspector general said no matter how many Border Patrol agents are added, they can't effectively monitor some border regions.

So to improve border protection, DHS officials will rely on technology programs to help extend border agents' reach. The America's Shield Initiative (ASI), formerly known as the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System, is one such program. It's a major component of the government's technology-intensive smart borders strategy.

In testimony to the House Appropriations Committee's Homeland Security Subcommittee in March, Robert Bonner, commissioner of DHS' Customs and Border Protection, said ASI is an important tool because it allows Border Patrol agents to remotely monitor the border. They can then respond to specific illegal crossings rather than patrol an entire area adjacent to the border.

"By contrast, Border Patrol operations without ASI support are not only less effective, they are more resource-intensive and less safe for Border Patrol agents," he told the House panel.

Speeding trade

The use of technology to support border agents depends on their particular security needs.

At seaports, the basic problem is moving high volumes of cargo and people through relatively small areas, said Rod MacDonald, acting assistant commissioner of CBP's Office of Information and Technology. The ideal solution would allow port officials to collect and review shipment data before cargo arrives so they could more quickly sift possible threats out of legitimate traffic.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has an increasingly significant role at seaports because it can provide a hands-off way for border agents to quickly determine a particular cargo's contents, its origin and destination, and even whether someone has tampered with the container.