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Washington, D.C.?The national president of the union representing Customs Service employees today strongly reiterated her call for Congress to provide Customs with more funding on a continuing basis to allow the border control agency to provide the additional staffing "that so clearly is required along our nation's northern border in this dangerous age."

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents more than 12,000 Customs employees, said the recent arrests of suspected terrorists at two U.S. northern border points at opposite ends of the country, "shows that technology alone cannot do the job adequately."

NTEU's bargaining unit in Customs includes thousands of men and women who work every day in the front?lines of the dangerous war against drug smuggling, money?laundering and terrorism at more than 300 air, land and seaports nationwide.

Little more than a year?ago, NTEU and Customs reached agreement on implementation of a congressionally?mandated test of the Remote Video Inspection System (RVIS), a program designed to increase the hours of service at selected ports of entry along the northern border that are staffed on a less than 24?hour basis.

Kelley said that NTEU "repeatedly voiced our concerns" with the program, which calls for the use of video and audio devices to review those seeking entry into the U.S., especially as drug smugglers and others potentially engaged in illegal acts shifted their focus to the northern border.

"We agree with the use of the most advanced technology available," Kelley said, "but even the best technology is not a replacement for skilled, dedicated professionals on the ground doing the jobs they are trained to do."

Kelley made her comments following the arrests of a man and woman at a U.S.?Canadian border crossing in Vermont and amid reports that their vehicle contained explosive residues.

There were further reports that the woman had crossed several times into the U.S. and recently had been denied entry when she attempted to cross at a border point covered only by remote sensors and video equipment. When she was directed by a Customs employee monitoring the equipment to report to a staffed location for further inspection, she drove away without crossing the border.

Police are looking into possible links between the pair arrested in Vermont and a man arrested last week at Port Angeles, Wash., when he tried to bring bomb?making supplies into the country after a ferry trip from Vancouver, British Columbia.