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Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg thinks the Department of Homeland Security should be funneling money to help local law enforcement along the U.S. Northern Border and not just spending all the money on the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Montana Republican summed up that viewpoint in a new bipartisan letter sent earlier this week to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Homeland Security gives local law enforcement money to help with border security through grants under the Operation Stonegarden program and last year, Montana counties received $1.2 million in grants to watch out for drug and weapons smuggling, human trafficking and possible terrorist activity.

But Homeland Security recently decided to send all the money to the Southwestern states instead.

Rehberg says that policy is especially troubling in the light of a recent report by the General Accounting Office which showed there are serious holes in border security, especially in areas like Northwestern Montana, Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.

"A terrorist is just as deadly and an illegal drug is just as destructive, whether it came into this country across the Southern Border or the Northern," said Rehberg in a prepared statement. "That simple fact makes limiting federal resources to the Southwest border region short-sighted at best and downright negligent at worst. Montana's local law enforcement is on the front line of border security every bit as much as Arizona or California. Choking off our resources just doesn't make sense."

Democratic Congressman Bill Owens of New York, who also signed the letter, said local communities and patrol agents should be given "the tools they need to keep the country safe".

Contact Dennis Bragg