Thread: Az - New 'virtual fence' on verge of going up

New 'virtual fence' on verge of going up
Construction set to begin next month on maligned project to secure border
By Brady McCombs

02.08.2009

Homeland Security hopes to begin construction next month on the latest version of its much-maligned and costly "virtual fence" on the U.S.-Mexico border.
More than two years have passed and more than $400 million in taxpayers' dollars have been spent on the Secure Border Initiative Net (SBInet) project, which still hasn't produced an effective virtual fence.
The only system operating along the border is the "Project 28" prototype near Sasabe, southwest of Tucson, a grid of nine sensor towers that is still plagued with problems. It will be replaced by the new version — whenever it goes up.
SBInet officials planned to have a pair of new and improved virtual fences up in Arizona by the end of 2008 but the projects were abruptly stopped in August.
"It's very disheartening," said Christopher Bronk, a research fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, who has closely followed SBInet. "I don't think we can afford to make those kinds of spends without seeing results."
This year's plans include two projects: a grid of 17 towers along 23 miles of border near Sasabe, and a grid of 12 towers along 30 miles of border in southwestern Arizona south of Ajo. Both will feature a new operating system, which has been undergoing testing since last summer.
Some of the criticism is warranted, said Mark Borkowski, executive director of the Secure Border Initiative Program, who took over in October.
But he said people must realize that there has been important behind-the-scenes development work that will soon produce tangible results.
An example: the ongoing improvements of the common operating picture, which makes sure the information collected by the cameras, sensors and radar on the towers is useful to Border Patrol agents trying to stop illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.
"Some of these investments are foundational investments that don't show something that you can give people a picture of," said Borkowski, who previously worked in program management for the Border Patrol and NASA.
"While I am looking at what the expense is and whether it's reasonable, I happen to think that (criticism) might be a bit overstated because it's always hard to quantify and defend the things that you can't hold in your hand," he said.
New plans
The investments in the new operating system should be on display in new virtual fences planned for 2009, Borkowski said.
A project called "Tus-1" calls for a grid of nine sensor and eight communications towers, 200 ground sensors and improvements on six miles of access roads along 23 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border flanking Sasabe in the same area where Project 28 was put up.
The towers could begin going up as early as next month, he said. Officials have provided a projected start date of March 20, said Mike Hawkes, manager at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, where five of the towers will be located.
A second virtual fence project, called "Ajo-1," calls for a grid of six sensor towers and six communications towers, 200 ground sensors and improvements on 20 miles of access roads along 30 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in southwestern Arizona. Six or seven of the towers will be on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, said its superintendent, Lee Baiza.
Borkowski said the work is intended to start in June or July, and Baiza said he's been told construction could begin as soon as this summer.
Sensor towers are equipped with cameras and radar. Communications towers have radio antennas and serve as relays for the information.
The fixed towers — ranging in height from 40 to 120 feet, with most at 80 feet — will have cameras and sensors better suited for the border environment and an overhauled communication system that will use microwaves rather than satellites, Borkowski said
Perhaps most importantly, the new model has been undergoing field testing in Playas, N.M., since last summer, he said. In Project 28, officials used off-the-shelf technology, strung it together and expected it to work, Borkowski said.
The system has done reasonably well in testing but there are still a few remaining issues, such as making sure the cameras work in high winds, he said.
"The good news is that we identified them where we are supposed to identify them, which is during testing, not having turned it over to the Border Patrol and saying, 'Here you go,' " Borkowski said.
The start dates for "Tus-1" and "Ajo-1" are pending the resolution of those issues, which he expects by the end of this month.
In December, a group that included Hawkes and Baiza traveled to Playas for a demonstration.
Hawkes, who took over as refuge manager in mid-September, called the system "impressive," pointing out the camera's abilities to see as far as 6.5 miles away and to zoom and pan around.
The technology has come a long way from Project 28, said Baiza, noting that the line-of- sight system is much improved.
Both expect the systems to slow illegal border crossings.
The Tus-1 and Ajo-1 projects are part of a $70.5 million contract given to Boeing in June 2008.
The SBI office has set a goal of having virtual fences to cover all of Arizona's 350 miles of border by 2011-2012, pending necessary funding, Borkowski said.
Millions in contracts
The more than $400 million spent on the development of the virtual fence has been divvied up in a series of contracts to Boeing, a Government Accountability Office report shows. Among them:
• $84 million for design, environmental clearance support and locations for SBInet technology, in August 2007.
• $20.6 million for the test project, Project 28, in October 2006.
• $10.6 million for Project 28 contractor maintenance and logistics support, in December 2007.
• $64.5 million for development of SBInet operating software to design, develop and demonstrate a functional SBInet command, control, communications and intelligence and common operating picture, in December 2007.
Bronk, the Rice University expert monitoring the project, asked, "To keep economic migrants out of the United States, wouldn't $400 million be better spent elsewhere such as doing economic development in Mexico?"
It's difficult not to calculate what else the money could have been used for, Bronk said.
The $393 million appropriated to the SBInet virtual fence project in fiscal years 2007-08 could have been used to build 73 miles of pedestrian fencing or 232 miles of vehicle barriers; or 36 miles of pedestrian fences and 116 miles of vehicle barriers, a report from the Government Accountability Office found.
Taking a starting salary of $40,000 for a new Border Patrol agent (they range from $35,000-$45,000, depending on qualifications), the $400 million could have paid for approximately 10,000 Border Patrol agents.
Congress has appropriated $775 million in fiscal 2009 to SBI, which also handles fencing and vehicle barriers in addition to the virtual fences, Borkowski said. The funding is being frozen until the office reaches certain milestones.
While it seems like a lot of money, it's par for the course for a national security project of its complexity, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based security-information Web site. The defense community thinks in billions, not millions, he said.
"If they have only spent a few hundred million dollars, they are just getting started," Pike said.
Being behind schedule and underperforming is normal in research and development programs, he said. It took at least five years and probably several billions of dollars for the Navy to get the bugs out of a program in the late 1990s designed to sync up radar on ships and planes.
Borkowski, though, doesn't consider SBInet a research and development program, and said it is reasonable for the Government Accountability Office to question the expenditures.
"We ought to be able to better defend what those investments went for," Borkowski said. "When I am doing a systems and development program, I really am on the hook to actually give something that is useful to the user, which in this case is Border Patrol."
Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.
7 Comments on this story


http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/news/279334.php

I wonder if we are also going to hire 'Virtual Border Patrol Agents" to work this great "virtual" border? Might be a fun job for the twenty something crowd, stay home and play virtual Border Patrol Agent on Playstation all day long. Only negative is a "virtual" paycheck...

Its simply amazing that they expect the public to believe all this crapola.