The first daily newspaper job I worked was in Havre, a town of 10,000 people about 40 miles south of the Canadian border.

Two years before the terrorist attacks in 2001, no one talked about border security, even in Havre. Merchants flew the Canadian flag just as high then as they do now, always eager to welcome their northern neighbors to town.

Back in 2000, presidential hopefuls George W. Bush and Al Gore were still debating the decay of moral values in America. Talk of immigration, illegal or otherwise, was a conversation bubbling on the nation's backburner.

What's more, terrorism had yet to enter the nation's daily vocabulary. Osama bin Laden was still drafting his plan. Saddam Hussein was still in power. The Department of Homeland Security didn't exist.

Now, border security dominates the evening news, and it could help decide the next presidential race. It's just one piece in the larger puzzle of national security.

I first considered the issue of border security in Montana back in April when I followed Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger and Adjutant General Randy Mosley down to Las Cruces, N.M., to visit the Montana National Guard troops taking part in Operation Jump Start on the southern border.

The three-day trip proved fruitful, exposing the vastness of the terrain and the game of cat and mouse that's taking place across the Mexican border.

But as eye opening as the trip was, it actually raised more questions than it answered, primarily, what's being done along the northern border between Montana and Canada. Seldom is it mentioned on the news; most of the political attention looks south instead.

"So much of the focus in Washington, D.C., has been on the border to the south, and there's been very little talk on ports and the northern border," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told me in a recent conference call. "You've got to have people on that front. We need to get that going."

Back in July, I set out to learn more about our northern border. Immigration isn't much of an issue up here. So what is? Drugs? Terrorism? Is manpower an issue? Do we need to do more?

Even now I can't be sure. Yet, standing at the Sweetgrass Port of Entry, looking north at the line of cars waiting to enter the U.S., I began to wonder if the world looks at America the way I look at the New York Yankees. Like the team, America is a place some love to hate, coveting our successes and exploiting our shortcomings.

The thing about being on top is that you've got further to fall -- and everyone stumbles from time to time. The risks are too great to turn a blind eye on those who want to see us fail. From an American-centric point of view, sometimes it seems the whole world is waiting for that.

I myself would like to see the Yankees fall from grace. If that's how the world views America, then I must remove my hat to those guarding our flanks, keeping evil at bay. If it's not and I've misinterpreted the things I've seen and the stories I've heard, then we've got some reaching out to do, so the rest of the world can share in our successes.

Compared to 1999, it seems, just about everything has changed, less the Canadian flags that still fly high over Havre. The decisions that are made today, just like those in the 2000 presidential race, will greatly affect every one of us in the years to come.

Reporter Martin Kidston: mkidston@helenair.com or 447-4086.