Shaina M. Smith. Photo: Provided

Map of the [British] Virgin Islands. Image: Provided

So I heard the other day we have "porous border" and I decided to pull out my map to see what was going on. At first glance, you see that we are more water than land mass. That being the case our border management strategy obviously must be multifaceted and at one point in the last 20 years I think we (TAXPAYERS) had almost 10 marine vessels and a PLANE across various government agencies - Police, Ports Authority, Customs, National Park Trust, Conservation and Fisheries. Now suddenly, the "border has fallen apart" and boats of any size are able to past in and out undetected????

Let's put this in context...when pirates and buccaneers roamed these waters, what did the "Government" do? They built forts on strategic look-out point to monitor the seaways. And now we are being told that here in the 21st century with all the advances in technology and resources we are incapable of doing a better job to address drug and human trafficking??? REALLY... Surveillance is not a modern invention.

Having worked in the public service for a stint exposed me to the budget management process and I learned early there was always a battle between political will vs priority. We also had a terrible habit of not budgeting for maintenance of the assets purchased and equipment would be in disrepair for months or in the case of the plane - obsolete.

SIDEBAR: The other day it also dawned on me that the sailing capital of the world does not have a marine ambulance or fireboat. Topic for another day...

I humbly ask for our National Security Council to report to WE the people on what is the plan to "tighten" up this ship!