A surveillance tower sits on a hilltop on land owned by Phil Letourneau in Derby Line near the U.S. – Canada border on Monday, November 25, 2024. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger ” data-medium-file=”https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-300×198.jpg” data-large-file=”https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-1200×792.jpg” src=”https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-1200×792.jpg” alt=”A man in a brown jacket and cap stands on a snowy hill near a tall communication tower under a cloudy sky.” class=”wp-image-607875″ srcset=”https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-1200×792.jpg 1200w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-300×198.jpg 300w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-125×83.jpg 125w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-768×507.jpg 768w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-1536×1014.jpg 1536w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-2048×1352.jpg 2048w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-1024×676.jpg 1024w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-1568×1035.jpg 1568w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-2000×1320.jpg 2000w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-400×264.jpg 400w, https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/border-tower-2-20241125-706×466.jpg 706w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”>A surveillance tower sits on a hilltop on land owned by Phil Letourneau in Derby Line near the U.S. – Canada border on Monday, November 25. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Nearly four years ago, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials outlined a proposal for a line of surveillance towers along the Canadian border in Vermont and New York. Since then, VTDigger has found, the agency has been quietly making good on its plans.
The federal government has built surveillance towers in recent years on at least three of the sites it identified to state and local officials, and to the public, in 2021, including one in Derby, Vermont, and two in the lakeside New York community of Champlain.
There is