SBInet replacement takes shape
After spending more than $1 billion on the failed virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, DHS is moving ahead with the latest incarnation of the high-tech system; rather than using a one-size fits all strategy, DHS will use readily available technology to create tailor made approaches to the geographically diverse 2,000-mile long border; under the new plan, border patrol agents will use a combination of towers, truck mounted surveillance systems, ground sensors, hand-held equipment, and a host of other technologies to secure the border; the new program, dubbed “Alternative (Southwest) Border Technology,” will begin with an initial trial in Arizona
After spending more than $1 billion on the failed virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, DHS is moving ahead with the latest incarnation of the high-tech system. But this time rather than using a one-size fits all strategy, DHS will use readily available technology to create tailor made approaches to the geographically diverse 2,000-mile long border.
Under the new plan, border patrol agents will use a combination of towers, truck mounted surveillance systems, ground sensors, hand-held equipment, and a host of other technologies to secure the border. Planes, helicopters, and surveillance drones will also be used.
“The notion of one virtual fence and the concept of one Star Wars command and control center is a concept the secretary has rejected as impracticable and frankly, one that was not cost-efficient,” explained Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Alan Bersin said.
The new program, dubbed “Alternative (Southwest) Border Technology,” will begin with an initial trial in Arizona. Instead of SBInet’s original ninety-one towers, the new program will have sixty-seven towers with the rest of the area covered by the various technologies.
DHS expects most of the new equipment for the program to arrive along with the new version of the sensor towers in the next two to four years.
Bersin said, “Over time, using suites of technology - both land-based and in the air - we will continuously increase the percentage of attempted illegal entries that we detect.”
To minimize the cost overruns that ultimately sank SBInet, DHS is taking precautions to only procure mature technologies that are readily deployed. In addition, all contracts are firm, fixed-price contracts.
From 2005 to 2011, DHS spent nearly $1 billion to construct fifteen sensor towers along fifty-three miles of the southern border under SBInet. With the new program, DHS estimates that it will cost an estimated $750 million to cover 378 miles of the border with various technologies that will be deployed within the next three to four years.
In addition, DHS will spread the procurement contracts among several companies rather than what happened with SBInet where Boeing was the prime contractor.
While DHS officials may be optimistic that they learned valuable lessons from the failed SBInet project, the new program still has its skeptics.
“Every time a program fails, they change the name,” said Robert Lee Maril, a professor of sociology at East Carolina University who has written a book about previous failed virtual border fences. “They tend to never admit there are any mistakes but then go on and get additional funding for programs that didn’t work.”
Beginning with President Clinton in 1998 and continued under President Bush until 2005, the previous incarnations of the virtual border fence cost the government more than $400 million. According to a DHS Inspector General report, those projects were ultimately cancelled because the surveillance sensors were set off by the movement of animals, trains, and wind.
