Thread: Concerns Raised on Border Fence

Concerns Raised on Border Fence
Lawmaker Seeks
To Delay Handover
Of the Boeing System
By AUGUST COLE
December 6, 2007; Page A8

The House Homeland Security Committee's chairman is pressuring federal officials to delay acceptance of Boeing Co.'s high-tech border-surveillance system because he isn't confident it will work as promised on the Arizona-Mexico border.

In a letter sent late yesterday to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) cited continuing concerns by the committee that problems with the virtual-fence system known as Project 28 aren't fixed. The committee also is concerned that the effort doesn't give agents the technological advantages Boeing has promised.

Further delay of a project already almost six months behind could set back the credibility of both the effort and of Boeing. It also signals a determination by lawmakers to keep a sharp eye on how Homeland Security buys from the defense industry.

The project has been plagued with vexing software issues and problems getting cameras and radar to work in concert. The radar also had trouble working correctly in the rain, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Boeing's project is part of a larger effort estimated to cost taxpayers at least $8 billion through 2013, although the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has warned the costs could triple.

The effort is designed to make agents more effective at stopping smugglers and illegal immigrants by substituting technology for personnel. The parent contract is known as "SBInet," and it may eventually cover 6,000 miles of the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The government has withheld final payment on the initial $20 million contract while Boeing fixes glitches. Representatives for both Boeing and Homeland Security said they hadn't seen Mr. Thompson's letter.

Boeing has been waiting to turn over the first 28-mile section of the fence since the end of November. If the project is accepted, the government will operate the system alongside Boeing during a 45-day test period that may result in a formal handoff early next year.

To track a smuggler, an agent in a vehicle can remotely operate a camera and radar system mounted atop a 98-foot tower. Officials have said the system will be capable of locating a person five miles away or a moving car at three times that distance. The network will be overseen by command centers that have the ability to tap into every tower.

Boeing was originally scheduled to turn over the project to the government in June but was sidetracked by troubles in getting the sensitive equipment atop the towers to operate as advertised.

In his letter, Mr. Thompson urged Mr. Chertoff to "defer acceptance until you are certain that Project 28 performs as it was originally billed." He added that he is concerned that the Homeland Security department will lose credibility by portraying the handover as a test instead of delivering immediately useful technology into agents' hands.

http://online.wsj.com

Further delay of a project already almost six months behind could set back the credibility of both the effort and of Boeing. It also signals a determination by lawmakers to keep a sharp eye on how Homeland Security buys from the defense industry.

The project has been plagued with vexing software issues and problems getting cameras and radar to work in concert. The radar also had trouble working correctly in the rain, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Boeing's project is part of a larger effort estimated to cost taxpayers at least $8 billion through 2013, although the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has warned the costs could triple

.


Does it surprise anyone that the Boeing contract is going to double or triple the cost and the fence is going to be worthless?

This is what I am talking about with the candidates that keep saying 'build the fence'. They know this kind of thing is going to happen. I think it is planned. I think HS, or someone will always find something wrong and with the way the government awards contracts based on political contributions, it probably won't work anyway.

We are going to have to come to the conclusion that our government is going to do nothing - absolutely nothing. They will spend the money earmarked for this on some boondoggle that wasn't intended to work.

We need a physical fence - the double-layered fence - not a worthless 'virtual fence' that will be "virtually" useless during inclement weather and during budget shortfalls (maintenance is going to be costly). Furthermore, how are the American people going to know the technology is working. Also, what's to stop the feds from flipping the switch and turning the system off anytime they are of a mind to do so? We can observe a physical fence, but not a virtual one. If they attempt to take down a physical fence - we'll know it. That is not the case with the so-called virtual fence. The government can shut the system off at anytime and we wouldn't be any the wiser.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for technology in controlling our borders. However, I am saying it shouldn't be considered a substitute for a physical fence. Law requires an 854-mile physical fence, not a virtual fence. This virtual mess was something that was dreamed up to appease Mexico, corporate business interest, border communities, and the pro-illegal immigrant lobby. Just like COMPREHENSIVE immigration reform, it's all about compromise. Well, the American people are getting sick and tired of compromise - we want our laws enforced and illegal immigration stopped now!

It is all about getting money into the hands of the corporate donors, making sure nothing actually gets done on the border, and stalling until they can get their agenda in place.

I never thought about their being able to turn it off, but off course, they can - geesh.

nntrixie wrote:

I never thought about their being able to turn it off, but off course, they can - geesh.

Yep, but they can't turn a physical fence off.