OBP005294

From: (b) (6)

To: (b) (6) SELF, JEFFREY D; (b) (6)
Subject: Fw: Seeking some time on the Commissioner"s schedule on Monday
Date: Saturday, June 02, 2007 3:34:51 PM

Stay tuned for more

----- Original Message -----

From: (b) (6)
To: (b) (6)
Cc: (b) (6)
Sent: Sat Jun 02 15:31:39 2007
Subject: Re: Seeking some time on the Commissioner's schedule on Monday

Great -- (b) (6) will make it happen.

----- Original Message -----

From: (b) (6)
To: (b) (6)
Cc: (b) (6)
Sent: Sat Jun 02 15:20:53 2007
Subject: Seeking some time on the Commissioner's schedule on Monday

Hello and good afternoon

As a follow up to some of communication and outreach activities in support of sbinet, Chief Aguilar and
(b) (6) would like to schedule some time on the Commissioner's schedule on Monday
(perhaps 30 minutes) to review recent communications activities/media reports and discuss next steps
(including a proposal to conduct "open houses") and DHS engagement. Is this possible?

Thanks

(b)
(6)

----- Original Message -----

From: AGUILAR, DAVID V <DAVID.Aguilar@dhs.gov>
To: (b) (6)
Sent: Sat Jun 02 11:31:58 2007
Subject: Re: News Articles

(b) ,
(6)
I absolutely like the idea of an "open house"! This would insure balanced audiences and interested
parties represented.

Let's gin this up for proposal to the Commissioner for early this week. We do not need too much detail
for the Commissioner. We should keep it at the conceptual level. Next step would be for us (CBP) to
market this to DHS.

Let's try to get on the Commissioner's Schedule Monday.

David

----- Original Message -----

OBP005295

From: (b) (6)

To: Aguilar, David V <DAVID.Aguilar@dhs.gov>; (b) (6)
Sent: Sat Jun 02 11:03:43 2007
Subject: Re: News Articles

Chief,

I see a couple of balanced messages in these articles, but also some clear attempts to take statements
out of context and present misrepresentations of the facts. The fact that this event was controlled by
folks with a specific agenda made it difficult, at best, to hope for much better than we got. Given the
dynamics Chief, I think you did well to keep the misinformation as limited as you did.

The key issues, and easiest targets for our detractors, seem to be the perception of government
secrecy, unwillingness to provide specific information, and the ongoing perception (fueled by those with
agendas) of a huge wall stretching for miles rather than the picture we've tried to paint of small
sections of fence where it make sense.

Bottom line for me is that the folks with the political agendas are looking for an oppotrunity to "bust this
thing wide open and expose the government for the lairs they are", and our continued overcautious
approach is feeding their cause.

We need to find a way to "bust it open" with us putting forth the facts before our opponents can put
out any more myth. We have to take the wind out of their sails.

During a recent meeting, the Army Corps folks suggested a format for outreach that I believe we might
want to put on steroids and try in an effort to couinter these politics. Its an "open house" specific to
the topic.

The open house would be a very public event. We would advertise it to the public, let media attend
freely, and invite specific groups (such as the Texas Border Coalition mayors). We would have
"stations" set up with experts from SBI, Army Corps, and BP. Rather than a format where people can
"take the stage" and grandstand, folks could go to the stations and get information and ask questions.

I propose that each station would be of a full disclosure nature. We would have maps, and maybe even
aerial photos, of areas where our preliminary analyses indicate we might want to put fences and
different tactical infrastructure and technology. Our experts would explain the thought processes
behind the initial site selections. Our people would also press home the fact that we will collaborate,
and any hand-outs would have the appropriate messages (intiial operational analyses, no final decision,
etc) attached.

Army Corps stations would have their experts on hand to explain the RFP, engineering issues
considerations, and steps that need to be done as we move forward.

SBI could talk to what is coming in the realm of the "virtual" fence.

We would have to get DHS to support us on this because it would mean putting maps and a lot of info
into the public realm, but I've come to believe this may be the only way to put this fire out.

The keys to success of this concept would be in creating an environment of open communication in a
format that can't be controlled by those with political or special interest agendas.

Thoughts?

(b)
(6)
----- Original Message -----
From: AGUILAR, DAVID V <DAVID.Aguilar@dhs.gov>
To: (b) (6)
Cc: (b) (6)
Sent: Sat Jun 02 00:00:58 2007
OBP005296

Subject: Fw: News Articles

FYI

----- Original Message -----

From: (b) (6)
To: AGUILAR, DAVID V; (b) (6)
Sent: Fri Jun 01 22:17:58 2007
Subject: News Articles

Chief Aguilar,

Below are two similar articles. (b) asked that I email them to you since he could not get his laptop
working before we were back at(6)the office. The first is the AP article that was in the Brownsville Herald,
Houston Chronicle, and ABC News. I probably shouldn’t express my opinion, but my favorite line comes
out of the second article below which states, “After his speech, Aguilar was rushed out of the McAllen
Convention Center to a waiting motorcade.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

Border Patrol chief meets with officials in the Valley

By LYNN BREZOSKY, Associated Press <mailto:>

McALLEN (AP) - The chief of the U.S. Border Patrol told angry mayors, businessmen, and
environmentalists Friday the 700-mile border fence was law, and if his agency and local officials reach
an impasse on where the fence should go, "then it's up to someone to make a decision."

Chief David Aguilar's address to the Texas Border Coalition - which was hastily arranged late Thursday
after numerous cancellations by Homeland Security officials - was sprinkled with conciliatory "ifs" and
"mays" about the location of the fence. But Aguilar made clear that the federal government would have
the final say.

"The mission of securing this country is mission one," he said.

When David Guerra, an executive with a bank that does a lot of business with Mexicans, asked what
recourse local leaders would have if the government went against their concerns, Aguilar said, "I think
as a banker you know that sometimes things come to an impasse - and then it's up to someone to
make a decision."

Local officials have been fuming over what they consider the secrecy concerning a fence they say will
cut farmers off from water, harm wildlife, ruin recreational areas and send a hostile message to Mexico,
Texas' biggest trading partner.

Within months of getting Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's assurances that decisions on
the fence's location would not be made without their input, coalition members intercepted a confidential
U.S. Customs and Border Protection memo that included a map of the fence.

Customs and Border Protection has since said things were badly handled and that the map is
preliminary.
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Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican who voted for the fence, got an amendment passed in
the pending Senate immigration bill that would require Homeland Security to take locals' concerns into
consideration when siting the fence.

But local leaders told Aguilar on Friday that poor communication persists, with all their information so far
coming from intercepted memos, including a request for proposals for the fence contract.

"What is your plan in Texas? Where is the fence going to be built," coalition leader Mike Allen said.

"I can't tell you today," Aguilar said. "If I told you where the fence was going that would mean we'd
never partnered with you."

He said there were "no confidential memos."

But John McClung, president of the Texas Produce Association who attended a separate fence meeting
Friday between landowners and the Border Patrol, said agents rolled out maps of private property
marked with lines showing exactly where the fence was being considered. The lines were drawn on the
levees, which can be as much as 1 1/2 miles inland from the Rio Grande.

"When you listen to the chief of the Border Patrol say this morning that this all is subject to
consultation with localities and then you go to a site meeting and you see big rollout maps with lines
drawn on it you begin to wonder what their definition of consultation is," he said.

Allen, former president of the McAllen Economic Development Corp., said he was insulted to learn that
the Border Patrol was not publicizing the landowners' meetings.

"We'd like to know what you're negotiating," he said. "Let us know where these meetings are. We'd like
to go to them," he said.

----------------------------------------------------------------

McALLEN — U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar met with elected officials from the Texas-Mexico
border Friday but failed to allay concerns that the federal government is keeping quiet its plans for the
proposed border fence.

“I’m not confident (they’re keeping us informed). We’ve been burned so many times,” Laredo Mayor
Raul Salinas said.

“Look at everyone we got here today. We’re knocking on the door, and this is a wakeup call.”

Aguilar’s appearance came at a Texas Border Coalition meeting, an event that brought together
conservationists, landowners, farmers and elected officials in an attempt to devise a strategy to oppose
fence construction. Aguilar, the highest-ranking Border Patrol official in the country, was not originally
scheduled to appear but called to say he was coming Thursday night, said Eddie Aldrete, one of the
meeting organizers.

Aguilar spoke for about 30 minutes, taking questions from the audience and explaining the
government’s plans for border security.

“A wall or a fence is a tactical tool. It’s not a solution,” Aguilar said.

“This is not an issue solely of illegal immigration. … We have to begin to think, ‘Should we start
securing our border now, or wait until something happens?’

“This country is at war,” Aguilar added, referring to the so-called global war on terror. “We’re fighting a
war unlike anything this country has seen before. We’re fighting an ideology.”
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After his speech, Aguilar was rushed out of the McAllen Convention Center to a waiting motorcade.

“You can look at it two ways,” Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas said of Aguilar’s appearance. “This
could be a public affairs thing to try and calm the locals down, or they really care and want our input.

“Personally, I think they have good intentions.”

Following Aguilar’s departure, meeting attendees discussed how they should try to reduce the 135 miles
of fence designated for Texas, as detailed in a map drawn up by the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security. DHS officials have called the map, which was part of a confidential memo leaked to the media
last month, “preliminary.”

While some landowners argued for taking their concerns to Border Patrol individually, the consensus
among elected officials was for a unified opposition.

“The bigger we are, the more input we will have,” McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez said.

“If you know somebody at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or the farmers associations … call them.”

(b) (6)

Assistant Chief / HQOBP

1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Room 6.5E

Washington, DC 20229

(b) (6) (O)

(b) (6) (C)