Boeing Booted Off Virtual Fence
February 29th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Media reports yesterday confirmed that Homeland Security took back its troubled virtual fence project in Arizona from Boeing. After paying $86 million to the company, Homeland Security discovered that the fence technology did not work. Oops.
Gregory Giddens, head of the Secure Border Initiative office, who is in charge of the SBInet project said the virtual fence will be finished some time in 2011 instead of 2008.
What happened? First of all, Boeing attempted to create a virtual fence with little input from Border Patrol agents who would be using the technology. Second, Homeland Security at the urging of Congress, wanted a sophisticated virtual surveillance system in less than two years. This 100-mile stretch of virtual fence included nine mobile towers, radar, cameras and vehicles with satellite phones and handheld devices. Third, according to a February 2007 U.S. Government Accounting office report, the SBInet office had 113 government officials and 157 private contractors staffing the office. The SBI office told the GAO that they were concerned that staffing shortfalls in federal employees would limit their government oversight efforts.
The GAO also warned in the same report that the SBInet contract which Boeing and a consortium of private contractors secured in 2006 needed a limit on spending. The contract has no limit on how much can be spent on securing our borders.
Let’s do the math: limitless contract + 6,000 miles of U.S. border = Boondoggle.
It’s important to point out that Boeing still has its contract. It will be providing steel for the border wall in Texas and possibly hiring more subcontractors to carry out tasks in technology and construction along the border.
The only thing that this contract is “securing” is the taxpayers’ money.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Unfortunately you seem to have gotten your opinions way ahead of the facts. I refer you to the statement DHS released this morning for an accurate report.
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Statement from U.S. Department of Homeland Security Press Secretary Laura Keehner
Release Date: February 29, 2008
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
P-28 was designed to be a demonstration of critical technologies and system integration under the broader SBInet initiative. Specifically, its purpose was to demonstrate the feasibility of the SBInet technical approach developed by Boeing, and to show that this type of technology could be deployed to help secure the southwest border of the United States. The intended objective has been achieved – after successful field testing, we formally accepted it from Boeing last week. We have a system that is operational and has already assisted in identifying and apprehending over 2,000 illegal aliens trying to cross the border since December.
We have been forthcoming about the technical deficiencies identified in the P-28 module last year, and as good stewards of the taxpayers’ money, DHS delayed acceptance of P-28. After a period or operational testing, additional deficiencies were identified and subsequently corrected to the department’s satisfaction. From the P-28 demonstration, we learned that a one-size-fits-all architecture does not meet our needs. Accordingly, we are building upon lessons learned to develop a new border-wide architecture that will incorporate upgraded software, mobile surveillance systems, unattended ground sensors, unmanned and manned aviation assets, and an improved communication system to enable better connectivity and system performance.
The GAO is simply incorrect in its assertion that the delay with P-28, which was from June to December 2007 only, delayed our deploying other tactical infrastructure along the border. In fact, we are committed to developing and deploying technology and tactical infrastructure along the border that works and that protects the interests of taxpayers. To that end, we have requested a budget of $775 million next fiscal year – bringing the two-year total to $2 billion – to continue these efforts.
The department has completed more than 167 miles of pedestrian fence and 134 miles of vehicle fence on the southwest border, for a total of approximately 302 miles. We are on track to have 670 miles of total pedestrian fence and vehicle fence by the end of 2008. Further, the Border Patrol now has more than 15,000 agents and by the end of this year we will have more than 18,300 agents. This doubles the size of the Border Patrol under President Bush’s leadership. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also continues to increase its workforce at the ports of entry, hiring 2,156 new CBP Officers and 340 agriculture specialists, for a net increase of 648 officers and 151 specialists in Fiscal Year 2007.
This page was last reviewed/modified on February 29, 2008.