Maine ? The United States wants to better secure its border with Canada, but it might have trouble finding it in some areas, an official with the agency that maintains the border said.

The U.S. and Canada have fallen so far behind on basic maintenance of their shared border that law enforcement officials might have to search through overgrown vegetation for markers in some places, the official said.

“If you can’t find it, then you can’t secure it,” said Dennis Schornack, the U.S. commissioner of the International Boundary Commission.

The Boeing Co. has been awarded a three-year, $67 million contract to implement the first part of a plan to reduce illegal entry along thousands of miles of border with Canada and Mexico using better technology, including cameras, sensors and even unmanned airplanes.

But commission officials say their budget of about $3.6 million is insufficient and insist if they are not given more money to buy machinery to beat back the weeds, bushes and trees that threaten to overtake parts of the border, those high-tech gadgets could prove useless.