Officials: Wire could have decapitated Border Patrol agents

updated 7:34 p.m. EST, Wed February 13, 2008

Officials: Wire could have decapitated Border Patrol agents

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. border officers found a wire between two
fences along the U.S.-Mexican border that, when stretched taut, could
have seriously harmed or even decapitated Border Patrol agents,
Congress was told Wednesday.

"It was configured in a way so that, if it was pulled, it would take off
the head of a Border Patrol agent riding in an open car," Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a House budget hearing.

The wire was discovered Saturday when authorities monitoring a surveillance
camera saw two people on the north side of the border east of the San Ysidro
Port of Entry, in the San Diego sector.

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When pulled tight, the wire would be about 4 feet high -- about neck level
for an agent riding on an all-terrain vehicle, CBP said.

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