Re: U.S. Curbs Big Plans For Border Tech Fence
Gary
<jimst...@forgetthemail.com> wrote:
>U.S. Curbs Big Plans
>For Border Tech Fence
>By EVAN PEREZ and AUGUST COLE
>February 23, 2008; Page A1
>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120370791803186319.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
>WASHINGTON -- The government yesterday officially unveiled its $20
>million "virtual fence," touted for months as one of the most
>effective ways to secure America's leaky U.S.-Mexico border.
>
>But the problems that have plagued the high-tech barrier mean that the
>fence's first 28 miles will also likely be its last. The Department of
>Homeland Security now says it doesn't plan to replicate the Boeing Co.
>initiative anywhere else. A spokeswoman says there are no plans to
>expand the project beyond its first phase, although Homeland Security
>Secretary Michael Chertoff says "some elements" of the project may be
>used in other locations.
>[fENCE]
>Nine tall towers punctuate the fence.
>
>The effective mothballing of the concept is a setback for the
>government's border-protection efforts, an embarrassment for
>politicians backing the idea of an electronic fence and a blow to
>Boeing, the project's designer. It will also do little to settle the
>fractious politics of immigration, which continue to reverberate
>around the campaign trail.
>
>The virtual fence, called Project 28, came up during Thursday's debate
>in Austin, Texas, when both Democratic presidential candidates
>expressed their support for a high-tech alternative to the federal
>government's construction of a 12-foot-tall physical fence. That
>project, begun last year, has elicited outcry from Texas property
>owners and local officials.
>
>"Let's deploy more technology and personnel, instead of the physical
>barrier," said New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama of Illinois
>agreed: "There may be areas where it makes sense to have some fencing.
>But for the most part, having [the] border patrolled, surveillance,
>deploying effective technology, that's going to be the better
>approach." Both senators had earlier voted for legislation mandating
>700 miles of physical fence in sections of California, Arizona and
>Texas.
>
>It's unlikely that any administration will be able to embark on an
>immigration revamp until it can persuade skeptical Republicans it can
>effectively police the border. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona
>Republican and likely presidential nominee, sponsored a comprehensive
>immigration bill last year that collapsed due to strong opposition
>from his own party. He has since said he supports securing the border
>before tackling more controversial immigration proposals, such as
>providing a way for undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status in
>the U.S.
>
>Project 28 was based on off-the-shelf technology tied together by
>Boeing. Cameras and radar mounted atop 98-foot towers would pick out
>smugglers and illegal immigrants from miles away, allowing fewer
>agents to patrol a given stretch of border. Command centers and mobile
>communications systems were also part of the contract.
>
>But getting all these elements to work together harmoniously has
>proven problematic. Project 28's technology problems included software
>integration issues and difficulty getting the towers' cameras to synch
>with the radar systems. The radar had trouble identifying objects amid
>desert scrub and trees. Rain posed problems to the surveillance
>systems, and concerns persist that the towers are tempting targets for
>increasingly well-armed drug gangs looking to shut down the system.
>
>At his news conference yesterday, Mr. Chertoff played down the
>technological problems, which he likened to finding problems during a
>house inspection that aren't significant enough to nullify a purchase
>contract. "I have personally witnessed the value of this system, and I
>have spoken directly to the border-patrol agents who are involved in
>operating that system over the last few months and who have seen it
>produce actual results in terms of identifying and allowing the
>apprehension of people who are illegally smuggling across the border,"
>he said.
>
>A Boeing spokeswoman says Project 28 "is a proof of concept. The
>concept works." The company is nonetheless changing how it produces
>the technology. There will be more hardware and software testing at
>special centers, instead of relying on fixes made at the border, the
>spokeswoman says.
>
>Government officials had great ambitions for the project. Although
>it's unlikely that the entire border would be policed electronically,
>there are potentially 6,000 miles of the U.S. border with Canada and
>Mexico that could have been covered by advanced systems. That work
>would be worth billions of dollars. Success in the U.S. could also
>have led to overseas customers who want to use technology to track
>cross-border traffic and smuggling.
>
>Last month during a tour, customs and border-patrol officials showed
>Attorney General Michael Mukasey the rugged terrain that Project 28
>oversees. A Homeland Security Blackhawk helicopter soared above a vast
>expanse of breathtaking jagged desert peaks, amid which Project 28
>towers stood their sentinel watch over the border. "Admittedly, we
>gave Boeing some of the roughest parts of the border to work with," a
>border-patrol official told the attorney general, explaining what he
>said were many problems the system had encountered.
>
>In August, Boeing replaced the manager of Project 28. For months,
>Boeing and Homeland Security wouldn't say when the work was going to
>be complete. In early December, the government said it was closing in
>on taking delivery. But that same month, the government gave Boeing
>another $64 million contract to fix the "common operating picture,"
>which lets agents in vehicles see imagery from the towers'
>surveillance systems. Yesterday's announcement marked the final end of
>the testing period.
>
>Homeland Security officials took possession of the system over the
>objections of Congress, which has been critical of the department and
>of Boeing for the problems that have bedeviled the program. "We are no
>safer and out millions of dollars," said Democratic Pennsylvania
>Congressman Christopher Carney, oversight chairman in the House
>Homeland Security committee. "We were led to believe that this was
>going to be a Beta test for a virtual fence for the border. Certainly
>this is not the force multiplier it was supposed to be."
>
>Laura Keehner, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, said, "Those who
>choose to criticize without seeing the technology firsthand are merely
>bystanders of the product and have no idea how hard our border patrol
>is working to keep America safe. We would not have accepted it if it
>didn't work."
>
>In the meantime, construction of the physical barrier continues. On
>Friday, Mr. Chertoff said the government has already built about 300
>miles of fence and is on pace to build about 670 miles by the end of
>the year.
High tech fence ? What's wrong with a machine gun nest every one
thousand feet ? That may be low tech -- but it would work like a
charm.
Jerry Okamura
"jimstevens" <jimst...@forgetthemail.com> wrote in message
news:ko53s3t5uu96ftmql...@4ax.com...
Gary
>On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:53:46 -1000, "Jerry Okamura"
><okamu...@hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
>
>>So, maybe someone should ask the candidates, what they think about this?
>
>Clinton and Obama discussed the border rather extensively in their
>last debate. If you are at all interested, look up the transcript
>and read it.
Clinton made two statements during that mental masturbation that
proves she is not only unfit to be President of the USA but also not
fit to even be in the Senate.
"...You know, I have been adamantly against the efforts by some to
make English the official language. That I do not believe is
appropriate, and I have voted against it and spoken against it...."
I wonder why she voted against that ? Does she fail to understand why
all languages *except* English are called "foreign" ?
"...But I do think that English does remain an important part of the
American experience...."
"Think ?" That's mighty damn big of her.
Jerry Okamura
"Rita" <Ri...@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:u3d3s31bjuev24eaj...@4ax.com...
>
> last debate. If you are at all interested, look up the transcript
> and read it.
>>
found...
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/21/schneider-clinton-obama-back-away-from-border-fence/
Immigration was a key issue, as it is to many Texans. Both candidates seemed
to alter their positions in Texas last night on the border fence. Both
Clinton and Obama said they do not support a border fence. They both voted
for it in the Senate last year.
Roberto Lovato is Contributing Editor for New America Media.
"Both candidates when they were asked about the wall didn't just backtrack,
the flip flopped in a huge way... I mean you have them previously both
voting for border wall and now both of them said they no longer support it
but they might support it in some areas which is a diplomatic way of flip
flopping out of diplomatic support.
That is all I could find