Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol, triggered a scramble of F-16 interceptors on Jan. 15 as he was flying from El Paso, Texas, in a Cessna 206. The Bisbee Police Department noted the incident in its log of that day. The Air Force confirmed a sortie occurred.
“I know for sure one (F-16) was scrambled,” said Capt. Lisa Dowling on Friday. She is a public affairs officer with the Western Air Defense Sector, or WADS, based at McChord Air Force Base in Washington state.Spencer is a frequent critic of the government’s illegal-immigration policies and has met in D.C. with like minded senators and representatives to discuss problems at the southern border.WADS’ mission, according to its Web site, is to “detect, identify, track and can scramble fighters to intercept unknown or threatening airborne objects.”
During the flights between San Diego and El Paso, with the Bisbee Municipal Airport as their home base, Spencer’s crew videos the border with high-definition cameras, paying close attention to fence construction.The fighter intercept surprised Spencer, who for 18 months has been flying his amateur surveillance missions along the U.S.-Mexico border without incident. “I do it all the time,” Spencer said, noting he is in regular radio contact with regional flight authorities, including Libby Army Airfield on Fort Huachuca. “And we’re squawking, and they know who we were,” he said, describing the moments leading up to the Jan. 15 incident.
As of Feb. 1, according to Spencer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claimed to have installed 284 miles of border fence, but by his reckoning there were only 163 miles of visible fencing. “There’s a big difference. We have proof,” Spencer said, not counting certain “fence” segments that are barriers to vehicles but remain open to foot traffic.
TY boortz
