The following is from the 10 February 2011 edition of "montrealgazette.com".

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano yesterday sought to debunk a congressional report's finding that U.S. border agents adequately secure only 51 kilometres of the boundary with Canada.

Testifying before the House homeland security committee, Napolitano also ruled out the possibility that U.S. customs agents might be located in Canada to preclear goods heading across the Peace Bridge from Buffalo, N.Y., to Fort Erie, Ont., one of the busiest Canada-U.S. border crossings.

Napolitano reacted sharply to a question from Michigan Republican Candice Miller, who cited a startling report last week from the Government Accountability Office that said the U.S. has "operational control" over less than one per cent of United States's 6,400-kilometre border with Canada.

"The term 'operational control' is a very narrow term of art," Napolitano said. "And it does not reflect the infrastructure and technology and all the other things that happen at the border, and so it should not be used as a substitute for an overall border strategy."

It was Napolitano's first appearance before a congressional oversight committee since U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed a declaration to launch negotiations aimed at creating a security perimeter around Canada and the United States.

The border plan has sparked concern among opposition politicians and Canadian nationalists, who fear greater information sharing on terror threats and a proposal for more integrated border management will result in a loss of Canadian sovereignty.

Harper and Obama agreed to establish binational port-of-entry committees to coordinate funding, building and expanding "shared border management facilities" and infrastructure "where appropriate."

The two leaders pledge to develop "joint facilities and programs, within and beyond Canada and the United States" to increase trade.

But Napolitano made it clear that the "shared border management" vision does not extend to the construction of a joint Canada-U. S. customs pre-clearance facility on the Canadian side of the Peace Bridge.

The Peace Bridge is the third-busiest commercial crossing along the Canada-U.S. border and the busiest for passenger traffic.

"We have looked into preclearance on the Canadian side. We cannot do it," Napolitano said.

Napolitano had previously been on record saying said a joint pre-clearance facility would result in a "lower level of security" for the U.S. and would have "required Canada to accept actions contrary to its Charter of Rights and Freedoms."