See related ALIPAC posting
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-105214.html

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http://www.fcw.com/online/news/151763-1.html

DHS pushes back schedule for deploying virtual fence
By Ben Bain
Published on February 27, 2008


The prototype border security project that the Homeland Security Department accepted last week lacks the operational capabilities that DHS had hoped it would have. As a result, the department has extended the time frame for the first phase of SBInet by three years, government auditors said.

DHS accepted Boeing’s system of cameras, sensors, towers and software to secure a 28-mile stretch of the Arizona border last week under the assumptions that the system was a value-add and a building block. Lawmakers of both parties have said they thought Project 28 would meet the overall operational goals of SBInet, DHS’ multiyear, multibillion-dollar effort to use technology and infrastructure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.

Lawmakers were also angry that Customs and Border Protection had extended the schedule for implementing the first phase of SBInet technology by three years, until the end of 2011.

Project 28 was expected to be operational early last summer, but software integration problems delayed it. Lawmakers have questioned if the decision to accept the system in its current form was the result of diminishing expectations.

“It’s not really what they had envisioned,â€