The Army Guard on the Border

In addition to the air patrols, hundreds of other members of the Vermont National Guard answered the call to duty and performed other missions after the attacks of September 11. For example, almost 80 Green Mountain Boys were deployed to the Northern Border to help the overworked Customs agents and Immigration and Naturalization Inspectors there. Sen. Leahy was very concerned, however, when he learned that the Pentagon decided to leave these forces unarmed. It was a good idea to send these highly-trained men and women to assist temporarily, but it was wrong to leave these troops defenseless when put in harm's way.

in 2002, Sen. Leahy organized a majority of Senators to sign a letter to the President urging him to arm members of the Guard called to the border. This coalition of 58 U.S. Senators argued that the forces on the border would be placed in harm's way without the means to defend themselves and would not be able to provide the necessary assistance.