U.S. border protection programs: Brief background
Yesterday SBInet won a lucrative contract as part of a continuing effort to secrure American borders; it follows and builds on several other initiatives that are part of migration security control
A team led by Boeing won a big victory yesterday when it was revealed that it would be awarded the rich SBInet contract. The SBInet builds on, and relates to, several other border security initiatives, some of them completed, others in various stages of completion. One such program is the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System (ISIS), a program combining detection and data to improve border security. Another program is the America’s Shield Initiative, a program which saw the installation of surveillance and sensory systems. America’s Shield had three components:
* The Remote Video Surveillance System, which integrates multiple video and thermal images into a single remote control system. There are 269 RVS installations across the United States in cities such as Buffalo, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Miami, Florida; and San Diego, California.
* The Sensor System, which includes radar, seismic, motion, magnetic, and heat detectors. These sensors, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), are mostly Vietnam-era sensors. There are 11,938 sensors installed in cities such as Yuma, Arizona; Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Buffalo, New York.
* The Intelligent Computer-Assisted Detection System, which is an alarm and dispatch system which reports ground sensor activations, and monitors and analyzes that information.
DHS’s Secure Border Initiative (SBI) is a broad multi-year initiative which looks at all aspects of border protection — deterrence, detection, apprehension, detention, and removal.
SBInet, the contract of which the Boieng team has won, is intended to detect, identify and classify, respond to, and resolve illegal migration situations with the appropriate law enforcement measures. The Senate voted on 26 April to move $2 billion for spending on border security, including $600 million for Coast Guard acquisition and $790 million for recapitalizing the CBP’s Air and Marine division, from the Bush administration’s roughly $68 billion military supplemental request.
-read more about SBInet at DHS Web site; and Customs and Border Protection Web site;
