Border securityAuditor faults SBInet's successor
A federal auditor has found that DHS has not provided evidence that their plan to integrate surveillance technologies across the nation’s southern border will be more practical and cost-efficient than the failed $1.5 billion virtual fence the project is supposed to replace; GAO as well as security and technology experts, say the substitute plan closely resembles the original project that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars and years of work on tools that malfunctioned in the severe heat
A federal auditor has found that DHS has not provided evidence that their plan to integrate surveillance technologies across the nation’s southern border will be more practical and cost-efficient than the failed $1.5 billion virtual fence the project is supposed to replace.
In January, DHS scuttled its Secure Border Initiative network (SBInet) after a yearlong review found the one-size-fits all approach to outfitting the border with synchronized monitoring devices, intelligence databases, and communication networks would not be technologically feasible in desert terrain. The department’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) bureau has since initiated a sequel that will tailor equipment to suit the unique environment of each border section, starting with a request for information (RFI) on commercial technologies for erecting interconnected fixed towers. The endeavor is aimed at patrolling for illegal immigrants, drug smuggling and terrorist-related activity.
The Government Accountability Office, as well as security and technology experts, say the substitute plan closely resembles the original project that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars and years of work on tools that malfunctioned in the severe heat.
“The RFI that CBP has put out looks very similar to the kinds of documents we saw with SBInet at the very beginning,” Richard M. Stana, a GAO director, told members of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security at a hearing. “Our problem is we haven’t seen to date the documents that translate their view of the alternatives [to SBInet] into budget and operations and planning.”
President Obama’s fiscal 2012 budget requests $242 million to fund three of the five planned towers in Arizona, though installation would not begin until 2013, according to GAO. Stana said the entire tower system for the state is expected to cost about $570 million. The process of extending the system across the border would continue until 2021 or 2026.
Some members blanched at the projected schedule.
“That’s a long time,” said Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas). “It took us a decade to put a man on the moon. I don’t understand why it takes so long.”
CBP officials at the hearing explained that flexibility has been built into the new strategy to allow the bureau to acquire technologies for specific sections in, for example, Texas, when pressing threats arise.
Some outside experts have suggested the administration try deploying production-line-ready military or industrial equipment that can endure extreme weather, rather than the commercial infrastructure the RFI currently calls for.
