In a Wall Street Journal op-ed this week, Representative Jane Harman (D-California) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) call attention to the on-going threat of Al- Qaeda's pursuit of dirty bombs. In the article, Harman and Collins cite the danger of terrorist at-large, Adnan el-Shukrijumah, who was recently indicted for his connection to the New York City subway bomb plot. Harman and Collins relate that Shukrijumah is "a trained nuclear technician allegedly tasked by al Qaeda with carrying off an "American Hiroshima."

What Harman and Collins fail to mention in their op-ed, is that, according to law enforcement officials , Shukrijumah (alias "Jafar the Pilot") may have traveled into the United States via the Mexican border in 2004.

Isn't the danger of our unsecured border inextricably related to the threat of dirty bombs and the threat of terrorism in general? It would seem so. Yet, if those in Washington feel that way, they have done a smashing job of keeping it to themselves.

Sigifredo Gonzalez, Jr., sheriff of Zapata County in Texas, stated in a 2009 written testimony before a subcomittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security :

"We have always maintained that if you don't live on the border you don't know how vulnerable this country is for a terrorist attack. Persons living 50 miles or more away from the border have the impression that this border is very well protected. This is a farce. The border is not protected." 

When will politicians stop sweeping this crisis under the rug? Without border security there is no homeland security and there is no national security.