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In an earlier column this week, I argued it is well past time to put the U.S. military on our borders to protect this country from infiltration by terrorist elements. It is not the first time I have made the argument, nor will it be my last.

The recommendation to militarize our borders was not made lightly. It comes after years of studying, reporting and writing a book (web site) on the issue. In my view, there simply is no other force better equipped, better staffed, and better trained to defend our borders than the U.S. military.

That's not to say the Border Patrol has done a substandard job. Just the opposite. Despite recent revelations some agents may have been in the pay of drug dealers or human cargo smugglers, the agency on whole has done an exemplary job -- and has done it with too few personnel and too much political meddling from federal, state and local politicians.

Some want the Border Patrol to grow larger, and there have been recent proposals to increase the size of the agency. But as long as it remains a target of political manipulation, it will make no difference how large it gets.

So how is it possible to get the numbers of personnel needed to adequately patrol more than 6,000 miles of border (Mexico and Canada) against terrorist infiltration, while still remaining true to the Constitution and civil liberties? By making the Border Patrol another branch of the U.S. military.

And before you dismiss this notion out-of-hand, I have this to say to you: U.S. Coast Guard.

That's right, the Coast Guard. Many Americans don't think of this agency as an armed service with ties to the Department of Defense, but it is, though not in the normal sense of the phrase. In wartime, it becomes part of the Navy, but otherwise the USCG is part of the Department of Homeland Security (it used to be part of the Transportation Department). This distinction is important because it gives the Coast Guard the authority to enforce U.S. maritime (and coastal/border) law, interdict drugs and, on occasion, terrorist elements, while maintaining the look, feel, structure and professionalism of the U.S. military.

The Coast Guard has its own recruiters, its own boot camp, its own active and reserve components, and its own culture. As a genuine branch of the military, there are physical fitness and discipline requirements. As a naval service, much of what a USCG recruit learns pertains to ships and related information, but enlisted personnel and officers alike -- depending on job assignments -- are also taught law enforcement and maritime interdiction.

The same principle could work for the Border Patrol.

The agency should ostensibly remain with Homeland Security, but in time of war it should become a branch of the U.S. Army. Like the USCG, the Border Patrol (or United States Border Guard, if you will) should be equipped with its own recruiters and boot camp, its own active and reserve component (reserves could be utilized more along the southwest border when planting and harvest season begins in the U.S., for example), and its own Army-oriented chain-of-command and advancement.

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