A quick geography quiz…

Napolitano visits Sweetgrass

What do the little-known municipalities of Piegan, Sweetgrass, Sunburst and Havre have in common?

Well, beside the fact that all four are located in the state of Montana, they all had the honor of being visited on August 25 by a distinguished group of federal government officials from Washington, DC, most prominent of whom were DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin.

With that illustrious company, it is perhaps not surprising that Montana’s two U.S. senators, Max Baucus and John Tester, both Democrats, should have tagged along for a pair of port of entry visits, a roundtable discussion and a town hall meeting that unfolded during the course of a whirlwind tour.

Throughout the day, Napolitano and Bersin emphasized the heightened attention that DHS is paying to the Northern Border. In fact, they said their department expects to add 2,200 Border Patrol agents to the Northern Border by the end of this year -- a 700 percent increase since 9/11 – to the approximately 5,800 CBP officers already stationed in Northern border states.

At the Piegan and Sweetgrass ports of entry, Napolitano and Bersin had the opportunity to observe such state-of-the-art technology as thermal camera systems and Mobile Surveillance Systems, says a press release issued by DHS on August 25.

At a town hall meeting in Havre, the visitors from Washington talked about a range of issues, including partnerships with Canada on trusted-traveler programs.

Because her portfolio at DHS is so broad, Napolitano also took time to visit the Westside Great Falls Levee District in Montana and emphasize her department’s commitment to finding practical solutions to local flooding problems without impeding economic development.