Fox News poll now !! Will enough money be used for fence?

[Dianne]

www.foxnews.com (towards bottom of page)


Will enough money be appropriated to completely build the border security fence?

26% Yes

67% No

7% Not Sure

[Newmexican]

I believe that 67Million the amount of the first installment on the fence.


http://www.federalnewsradio.com/index.p ... 125&page=2
Boeing Wins 'Virtual Fence' Contract
Sep 22nd - 5:24am

PrintEmail



By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press Writer

WWASHINGTON) - Boeing Co., the world's largest aerospace company, won a $67 million federal contract Thursday to install a high-tech "virtual fence" along the Mexican border in Arizona.

The contract - less than half the $150 million list price of a single Boeing 787 jet - calls for cameras, sensors and even unmanned planes to be placed on a 28-mile stretch of border near Tucson, Ariz.

Despite the modest start, Boeing and government officials said the three-year contract was the first part of what could be a multibillion-dollar plan to reduce illegal entry along the 6,000 miles of the Canadian and Mexican borders.

The final cost for the so-called Secure Border Initiative is unknown, but industry experts say it could exceed $2 billion over six years. Federal officials disputed that, saying the program will be adapted as circumstances change.

"If we can get it for less than $2 billion, we'll do that," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

"What we are looking to build is a 21st century virtual fence," Chertoff said, calling the program just one of many steps the department is taking to reduce illegal immigration.

The Border Patrol's Tucson sector encompasses about three-fourths of the Arizona-Mexico border and has long been the nation's busiest entry point for illegal immigrants.

Chertoff and other officials stressed that the program will be flexible, calling the border "a complicated mix" of urban and remote areas, ranging from high desert in the Southwest to forests in the Northwest.

"We don't want to lock ourselves in" to any one technology, he said.

Officials expect Boeing and its corporate partners to begin operating the Tucson-area project by next spring, Chertoff said.

Chicago-based Boeing was among several major defense contractors competing for the job. While other companies relied on using flying drones to patrol the border, Boeing focused on a network of up to 1,800 high-tech towers, equipped with cameras, motion detectors and radar.

George Muellner, a top official at Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems, said Boeing and its partners - including Lucent Technologies Inc. and DRS Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group - were committed to making the program a success.

The Secure Border Initiative is the government's latest attempt to use advanced technology to solve illegal immigration, which has received new attention since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, hailed the new program but said "the jury's out" on whether it will succeed.

A previous effort to install cameras along the border failed when equipment broke down. "Hopefully, we learned some lessons," Gregg said. "You've got to make sure you're on top of the contractors."

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents border agents, said he was skeptical of any plan that relies on technology.

"They're applying the wrong solution to the problem," said Bonner, adding that Congress needs to pass legislation to "stop the employment magnet" that brings illegal immigrants from Mexico to the United States.

Jim Dempsey, policy director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology, which studies the application of technology to national security, praised Chertoff's go-slow approach.

"What I see here is a laudable recognition that the government isn't sure what will work. And that's far better than a single-minded assumption from the beginning that you know what the right outcome will be," Dempsey said.