HOULTON – The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection plans to reduce staffing at some remote border crossings in Maine. No date has been set for the cutbacks.

Staffing at Easton, Hamlin, Monticello, Orient and Forest City was doubled after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Two agents have remained on duty even at times when those ports were closed. With the exception of Forest City, plans call for reducing staffing at the other ports when they are open to just one agent, according to Kevin Downey, acting assistant director of field operations for the bureau.

Forest City will continue to have two agents when open because of its remote location.

“It’s a safety concern,” Downey said Friday. “It’s too isolated to have an [adequate] response from either the Border Patrol, state police or Sheriff’s Department.”

The plan to reduce staffing was in place before the outbreak of war with Iraq, and Downey said he’s not aware of any plans to change now that hostilities have begun.

“There’s no intelligence that we have a threat to those particular areas,” he said. “If we get any different information of course we’d look at it differently.”

Starting April 1, gates and other security measures will be activated at the ports at Easton, Hamlin and Monticello when the ports are closed. Gates will be activated June 1 at Orient and Forest City.

When the gates are locked, there will be no agents at the ports. People entering the United States from Canada will be required to go to 24-hour ports at Fort Fairfield, Bridgewater or Houlton.