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Washington, D.C.—In advance of a key Senate committee hearing to examine the proposed fiscal 2007 budget for homeland security, the leader of the union representing thousands of border security workers today called for sharp increases in funding for staffing and equipment at the nation’s land, air and seaports.

More highly-trained and properly equipped personnel at the border are the missing ingredients preventing the nation’s ports of entry from being secure from any number of threats, said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

The union leader offered her assessment as several hundred NTEU chapter leaders and members from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., for the start of NTEU’s annual legislative conference. As the NTEU members make their rounds of congressional offices they will stress DHS issues, including the need for more staffing and equipment.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday to hear administration testimony about its proposed fiscal 2007 budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Kelley already has been sharply critical of that budget proposal, pointing out that it would provide funding for the creation of fewer than 100 additional full-time positions at the 317 U.S. border ports of entry—calling that “an absurdly low number,” particularly in light of a recent Government Accountability Report identifying both the need for additional resources for staffing at ports and the lack of an adequate plan to accomplish that end.

The number contrasts sharply, she said, with the budget proposal’s request for a large funding increase to hire some 1,500 Border Patrol agents who operate on the borders between ports of entry.

Apart from the critical staffing issue, the NTEU leader took issue with DHS’s priorities, as reflected in the budget proposal. The administration is seeking another $41 million in funding to implement its new personnel system in DHS; that’s a system that twice has been enjoined as illegal by a federal court, as a result of a suit in which NTEU is the lead counsel. The $41 million increase would bring fiscal 2007 funding for the court-enjoined personnel system to more than $71 million.

And she pointed out that the misguided and mismanaged ‘One Face at the Border’ initiative—which combines legacy Customs, Immigration and Agriculture inspectors into a single position at border crossings—has resulted in a severe loss of inspectional expertise.

“This lack of sufficient staff at the borders, combined with the One Face initiative,” President Kelley said, “is actually undermining the DHS security mission.” At a minimum, she said, “Congress must increase the number of CBP officers at our ports of entry and revamp the ‘One Face’ program.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including some 14,000 in CBP. That makes NTEU the largest union representing CBP employees.