Border Patrol decides not to purchase a balloon to aid communication among agents
of back-and-forth with the Border Patrol, Space Data’s connection with the agency has fallen by the wayside, despite its continued contracts with the military. “We have no real relationship with Border Patrol at this point,” Quenneville said. “We have the occasional meeting with DHS.”
Cobb writes that repeated calls to DHS seeking a comment were not returned. “Any kind of contract that is considered has to be decided upon by headquarters, because that’s where the funds come from,” says Rob Daniels, an Arizona-based spokesman for the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol representative with specific knowledge of the 2007 Space Data demonstration could not be reached for comment.
DHS’s no-decision is a disappointment to Space Data, especially in light of media reports over the great challenges of apprehending illegal immigrants in remote areas along the border. “With our technology, we could fill in the dead spots and it would no longer be an issue,” says Jerry Knoblach, the company’s CEO. As agents in the field note, effective border enforcement inevitably brushes up against technological limits.
“Communications is always a problem. It doesn’t matter where you are,” says Mark Qualia, spokesman for United States Border Patrol. “The communications systems that we have work well, but at the same time, we’re looking to improve that communication.”
Space Data’s communications platform weighs only six pounds and acts like a cell phone tower, “repeating” voice or data signals to extend the coverage pattern on the ground. The hydrogen-filled balloon can maintain a controlled altitude over a specific area for roughly twenty-four hours by venting gas before it eventually bursts in the upper atmosphere. The electronics payload, which is about the size of a shoe box, drifts back to the ground on small parachutes, and it is then retrieved and reused.
“It’s all about getting a communications platform up to a high vantage point so that we can either extend the range of communications great distances or so that we can position our platforms to look down into deep canyons and valleys and mountain ranges,” Knoblach says.
Experts agree that casting a spotlight on new technology may relieve some of the political pressure in the national debate over illegal immigration, especially in Arizona, where the recent killing of rancher Robert Krentz drew national attention to the problem of violence in remote areas near the border.
“Border patrol is a very hard job because of the size of our border with Mexico and because it’s a sensitive political issue,” says Jeffrey M. Jones, a fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. “What’s happening in Arizona is heightening the tensions, so we’ve got to look at alternatives. We’ve got to look at technology that allows us to cast a wider net.”
“If the focus were on the people who are crossing the border at that moment, you’re going to avoid a lot of the issues of personal liberties,” Jones explains, referring to the recently enacted law in Arizona that requires police to request proof of citizenship from people they suspect are in the country illegally.
