Thank you, and thank you to all the witnesses today. You're all clearly very knowledgeable in the area of border issues and Canada-U.S. relations. We certainly appreciate the opportunity to benefit from your knowledge and experience.
There's been a lot of mention today of the myth that our border between Canada and the United States is porous. We have heard some of the recent talk coming out of the States about that in particular. Fortunately, not all American representatives share that viewpoint. I know in particular that U.S. Consul General Tom Huffaker recently commented, and I quote:
The United States does not, underline not, view Canada as a safe haven for terrorists. We view Canada as a country that has worked very hard and very effectively to address the international terrorist threat. We have no better or more effective ally, in our view, in the war against terrorism.
That is certainly not something shared across the board in the United States. There certainly is a bit of a perception among some that maybe our border is porous.
I wanted to actually ask Mr. Kergin a little about your experiences. You were there during the 9/11 crisis. I wanted to get a bit of a sense of that from you. I'm sure these myths would have existed at the time you were there in 2001, particularly. I'm curious about your experience and what you and your team did to combat these myths and what advice you might give us today in dealing with the situation we face now.