1:46 pm CST - March 16, 2011

Border Fence: Cancelling ‘Virtual’ Effort Not Best Long-Term Idea

By Craig Collins – Defense Media Network

In asking for border system resembling the one just killed, DHS has observers scratching heads

A small fence separates densely populated Tijuana, Mexico (on right in photo,) from the United States in the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector. Following the cancellation of SBINet, DHS has issued an RFP with similar requirements to the failed program.
On Jan. 18, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) released a Request for Information (RFI) in which it expressed interest in commercial off-the-shelf solutions “for deployment at fixed, elevated sites, hereafter referred to as Integrated Fixed Towers, that would provide automated, persistent wide-area surveillance for the detection, tracking, identification, and classification of illegal entries.

The capability sought would provide additional situational awareness and will allow CBP to more efficiently and effectively respond to border incursions where deployed.â€