The “fix” to securing our border was supposed to be SBInet, a high-tech integrated system that was supposed to blanket the area with sensors, camera and radar. Now, the Department of Homeland Security has figured out that…ah, well, terrain might be a problem in getting the system to work. They figured that out after spending half a billion dollars and six years looking at the problem. Makes you wonder whether some people in Washington really want the system to work to begin with. Aviation Week and Space Technology has the full story here. Looks like they are now going to throw money at the problem and try to fix it with technology, a hodge-podge of technology. Has anyone ever considered…BUILDING A BIG FENCE?
An excerpt:
“What’s that all mean? We can start with the 2010 Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, which will pay for $14 million in tactical communications systems; $32 million for two additional UAVs; $176 million for 1,000 new Border Patrol agents; as well as $68 million to hire 250 new officers at ports of entry; and $6 million to construct two forward operating bases along the Southwest border.
But what is the “mix of technology options” that the DHS is looking for under its new plan? A big part of it involves more Remote Video Surveillance System (RVSS) towers. The towers have a pair of day and night cameras, and there are already 250 of them deployed along the Southwest border. The DHS also has 38 truck mounted infrared camera systems and radars (Mobile Surveillance Systems, or MSSs) along the border, and recently purchased 30 more.
With $50 million diverted from SBInet last year the DHS also purchased 10 new backscatter radars for Border Patrol checkpoints–a technology that border agents I spoke with in Arizona, and soldiers guarding Camp Taji in Iraq, both loved–along with 104 vehicle pursuit cameras for ports of entry; 78 thermal imaging devices; and 3 aerial observation cameras.”