Since September 11th, airport security has been at the top of the American agenda. What many may not realize is the Agricultural Department has been waging a war against micro-terrorism at our airports since the early 1980s.

This month's Postcard from the Edge features the unsung heroes on the front lines - the Beagle Brigade. With their nose to the grindstone, or passenger's baggage as the case may be, the dogs sniff out crop-destroying bugs that try to infiltrate our borders.

Postcards from the Edge showcases mail greetings pulled from Back on Tack's roadside archive. A different card is featured each month.

The airport gatekeepers were given recognition in a series of postcards issued by the Animal and Plant Inspection Service. America's top dogs were photographed at airports across the US. Jackpot (above) stands outside DC's Dulles International. Taffy stands with raised ears and paw below the Hollywood sign as the proud protector of LAX. Gypsy, Dallas Airport's deputy dog, is poised beside a statue of herded cattle.

The cards where part of a PR campaign given wings by the Animal and Plant Inspection Service in 1995. It would take a year for them to gain the approval they needed to take off out the door. Bureaucratic waste is apparently one pest that continues to go undetected.

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