National Security: Lone Star

Texas is called the Lone Star state. For a short time in the mid-19th century, Texas was its own nation, independent of Mexico and not yet part of the United States. That changed in 1845 when both Florida and Texas were admitted to the union. Texas is huge, second only to Alaska in land mass, and the second most populous state in the union behind California. The southern border of Texas is defined by the Rio Grande River, which winds more than a thousand miles southeast from New Mexico to emp