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.

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