Soldiers to be sent to U.S. borders

WASHINGTON - Soldiers will join other federal agents at U.S. borders for a short time this year, Pentagon officials said. <br> <br> Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not say what kinds of soldiers will be sent or why. He said such operations eventually will be overseen by a new military commander for operations protecting the United States. <br> <br> President Bush said in his State of the Union address Tuesday that he wants the nation&#39;s border defenses strengthened. <br> <br> Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday he would present plans for the new commander to Bush next week. The commander would direct the nation&#39;s air, land and sea defenses against attacks on the United States from terrorists or other enemies. <br> <br> Rumsfeld said the military would not stay on the borders long. <br> <br> ``When the general says some forces are going to be assigned to the borders, it&#39;s going to be for a brief period,&#39;&#39; Rumsfeld said. <br> <br> Both spoke Thursday to students at the National Defense University, the government&#39;s graduate school for military officers and executive branch officials. <br> <br> The new commander for homeland security will need to coordinate actions with other government agencies such as the civilian Homeland Security Office that Bush created, Pace said. <br> <br> He said the commander also will decide what the military should do inside the United States and how to do it. <br> <br> Even the location of the new commander&#39;s offices has not been determined. The commander probably would want to be near Washington but not too near, to avoid any further terror attack on the nation&#39;s capital. <br> <br> ``So whoever this new (commander) is going to be come 1 October,&#39;&#39; Pace said, ``he is going to be very busy just figuring out what questions to answer and then determining how to go about answering them.&#39;&#39;

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