I am dedicated to making our nation safe, secure and free. I am working to combat terrorism, secure our borders and increase port security.

But national security is more than just defense. We must provide our local communities with the tools and resources they need to keep our neighborhoods safe. And we must invest in strong diplomacy and build international relationships that will strengthen the future of our country.

Keeping our Northern Border Secure and Open
While national discussions and debate on border security have primarily focused on immigration, the border concerns in Washington state are unique and offer different challenges. I am working to protect our communities from drug interdiction and organized crime that cross our northern border, while maintaining an economically productive traffic crossing with our Canadian neighbors.

Canada is America's number one trading partner. With over $1.6 billion worth of goods crossing the border every day and 16 million Canadians visiting the U.S each year, it is vital that we maintain a secure and open border crossing.

Increasing Border Security
Since 2004 Congress has authorized a total of 10,000 new border agents, 20 percent of which were slated to protect the Northern Border. However, to date Customs and Border Protection has added less than 1,000 new agents across both the northern and southern borders. I am working with my colleagues in Congress to fight for the border agents that have been authorized and to ensure that the appropriate numbers of these agents are placed in Washington state.

Travel Restrictions
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 included a provision requiring American and Canadian citizens to present a passport or other secure identification before crossing into the United States by 2008.

Cities across our Northern Border like Blaine, Sumas, Lynden and Bellingham will be hurt economically by this "Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative" (WHTI) unless the Departments of Homeland Security and State ensure that commerce, travel and tourism flow freely during implementation. These travel restrictions could create a logistical nightmare for Washington state and slow the economic benefits we hope to gain from the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

Strengthening Port Security
The debate surrounding the Dubai Ports World acquisition brought the vulnerabilities of port security to the forefront of security discussions in the United States.

This debate highlighted an inescapable fact: our layered defense for port security is full of holes and gaps. The American Association of Port Authorities has reported that its member ports requested over $3.7 billion in port security money from 2002 to 2005. Only $700 million was awarded-an 81 percent shortfall in funding port security needs.

The Government Accountability Office found in two separate reports that 35 percent of high-risk containers coming to the United States went un-inspected and only 13 percent of companies in the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism had completed their security background checks. And earlier this year, the President's proposed federal budget eliminated the Port Security Grant program altogether. In fact, at the same time the federal government has spent over $18 billion on airport security, we have spent only $680 million on port security.

In May, Congress passed the SAFE Port Act, taking action to strengthen our port security by setting minimum security standards, adopting technology to monitor the contents of containers entering U.S. ports, and funding the Container Security Initiative (CSI), a program that checks containers before they get to the U.S.

Keeping our Neighborhoods Safe
The safety and security of our communities is of the utmost importance, and methamphetamine poses a real threat to this safety. Once considered a West Coast drug, methamphetamine has spread east of the Mississippi and is making its way to the East Coast. As co-chair of the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine, I am working to provide local law enforcement, treatment professionals, and prevention experts with the tools they need to combat methamphetamine.

Communities can no longer fight this drug on their own. The time has come for the federal government to treat the methamphetamine problem with the same urgency and commitment that our state and local governments and groups have been treating it with for years.

A three-pronged approach - incorporating prevention, treatment, and law enforcement elements- is needed to successfully fight methamphetamine in our communities. The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, which was signed into law earlier this year, will help reduce the supply of meth in our communities by stiffening penalties and making it difficult to purchase pre-cursors for the drug. However, we must address the demand for the drug as well. Without educating our kids and young adults about the dangers of meth use and adequately treating those who are already addicted, we'll never abolish meth from our communities.