by Brady McCombs

Arizona Daily Star

President Barack Obama will deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border. But Sen. John McCain of Arizona says that is not nearly enough. (May 25)

The White House plans to send as many as 1,200 National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist with surveillance, intelligence, training and drug enforcement.

President Obama has also asked that $500 million be included in supplemental spending legislation to be used to fund more agents, more prosecutors, more technology, and improve information sharing among local, state and tribal law enforcement, said an Obama administration official via email.

The decision is part of the Obama’s overall plan for securing the border, the official said.

The office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., announced the planned deployment this morning in a press release. Giffords has been among a contingent of Arizona politicians including Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who been calling for troops to the border since Douglas-area rancher Robert Krentz was found dead on his ranch on March 27. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer wanted troops but didn’t want to use state funds to pay for them.

It’s unknown who killed Krentz but there’s been speculation that it was a drug smuggling scout who fled into Mexico based on information released by Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever.

Here’s how the Obama administration official outlined the role the Guard will play:

“The President will also deploy up to an additional, requirements-based 1,200 National Guard troops to the border to provide intelligence; surveillance and reconnaissance support; intelligence analysis; immediate support to counternarcotics enforcement; and training capacity until Customs and Border Patrol can recruit and train additional officers and agents to serve on the border.”

Here’s how the Obama administration official outlined how the $500 million will be used:

“Funds will be utilized to enhance technology at the border, share information and support with State, Local, and Tribal law enforcement, and increase DoJ and DHS presence and law enforcement activities at the border, to include increased agents, investigators, and prosecutors, as part of a multi-layered effort to target illicit networks trafficking in people, drugs, illegal weapons, and money.”

This will be the second major National Guard border mission in the last five years.

In the Operation Jump Start border mission that ran from 2006 to 2008 across the U.S.-Mexico border, the National Guard helped the Border Patrol by building roads and fences, operating radios and sitting in observatory posts near the border to report activity. Guardsmen were not allowed to apprehend or engage.