Pentagon chief says $1 billion of funding shifted to border wall

[March 26, 2019]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense shifted $1 billion to plan and build a 57-mile section of "pedestrian fencing", roads and lighting along the border between the United States and Mexico, the Pentagon chief said on Monday.

Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaks at a “Strategic National Security Space: FY2020 Budget and Policy Forum,” hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Last week, the Pentagon gave Congress a list that included $12.8 billion of construction projects for which it said funds could be redirected for construction along the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency last month in a bid to fund his promised border wall without congressional approval.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said in a memo to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen that the Department of Defense had the authority to support counter-narcotics activities near international boundaries.

Shanahan authorized the U.S Army Corps of Engineers to begin planning and executing the project that would involve building 57 miles of 18-foot-high fencing, constructing and improving roads, and installing lighting within the Yuma and El Paso sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.

(Reporting by Mike Stone; Editing by Paul Tait)

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