Border Boletín: Third time a charm on border technology?
Brady McCombs | Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 2:15 pm | Comments
http://azstarnet.com/news/blogs/border-boletin/
article_33e594d2-80c7-11e0-8673-001cc4c03286.html
As I break down in my Sunday print exclusive story, Homeland Security
is trading Star Wars for simplicity in its latest border technology
strategy. Instead of a one-size-fits-all network of camera and radar
towers, the agency will tailor unique plans for the different
stretches of the geographically diverse, 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico
border by choosing from a menu of technology.
This new plan constitutes the third major effort since 1998 by the
agency and its precursors to develop a border technology plan that is
efficient and cost-effective. The federal government spent about $1.5
billion on the first two plans over those 13 years, getting
questionable return at best.
The latest program, called SBInet, was officially cancelled in
January by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after an
assessment of the program determined it was not cost-efficient. The
Goverment Accountability Office issued several scathing reports about
the program over its six-year run, including one last June that laid
out all the problems the Boeing-led program had experienced from the
start.
"It's hard to redirect an iceberg once it's started moving in one
direction, and that's what we've been faced with," said the Randolph
Hite of the Government Accountability Office in testimony before a
House subcommittee on June 17, 2010.
Though new leadership at Homeland Security say they've learned from
past failures, some are skeptical due to the past failures.
"Every time a program fails, they change the name," said Robert Lee
Maril, a professor of sociology at East Carolina University who wrote
a book about the previous failures. "They tend to never admit there
are any mistakes but then go on and get additional funding for
programs that didn't work."
My story includes detailed explanations of the gadgets they will be
using, most of which are arleady in use along the border. They
include the truck-mounted mobile surveillance systems I wrote about a
year ago and the unmanned aerial systems I wrote about last November.
Descriptions of the other items can be found in the story.
Read for yourself and decide what you think about the new plan.
And if you want even more detailed information, here are a few links
where you can find more details about the new initiative, being
dubbed the "Alternative (Southwest) Border Technology" plan:
• Goverment Accountability Office report: "Preliminary observations
on the status of key southwest border technology programs." (March
15, 2011)
• Congressional testimony from Customs and Border Protection
officials about new border technology plan (March 15, 2011)
• Executive summary of Homeland Security's assessment of the recently-
cancelled SBInet virtual fence program.
• House Committee on Homeland Security subcommittee hearing:
"Strengthening the Border – Finding the Right Mix of Personnel,
Infrastructure and Technology" (March 15, 2011)
PRICEY, UNRELIABLE VIRTUAL FENCE IS OUT, SO HOMELAND SECURITY WILL
TAILOR PLANS FOR DIFFERENT STRETCHES OF THE US-MEXICO LINE
Menu of gadgets to guard border
Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 2:00
pm | Comments
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/
article_a5cd2ef2-5487-5860-9b9b-713c14f9d8c7.html
In the latest border technology initiative, officials will tailor
plans to fit different stretches of the geographically diverse border
by selecting from a menu of technology. Here are descriptions of the
items on the menu:
• Night-vision goggles provide agents with a long-range infrared
image of the desert floor.
• Agent-portable surveillance systems include a tripod-mounted, long-
range infrared sensor and camera, plus a battery and a laptop. They
can be carried by two to four agents into mountainous or remote areas.
• Helicopters, airplanes and unmanned aerial systems help agents
patrol mountains, canyons and other remote areas that are difficult
to reach on foot or by car.
• Motion sensors: Some are buried, some trigger a camera; both send a
signal to a central command center.
• Truck- mounted mobile surveillance systems have infrared cameras
and radar displayi
Editor's note: This story first appeared Sunday as an exclusive for
our print readers.
The electronic virtual fence proved to be expensive and inefficient,
so Homeland Security is trading Star Wars for simplicity in its
latest border technology strategy.
Instead of a one-size-fits-all network of camera and radar towers,
the agency will tailor unique plans for the different stretches of
the geographically diverse, 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border by choosing
from a menu of technology.
Most of the options are already being used on the border: truck-
mounted surveillance systems, night-vision goggles and towers with
day and night cameras. But now they will be brought together more
cohesively in a plan to be rolled out first in Arizona - the busiest
stretch of border for the last decade.
Plenty of money will still be spent - it will cost an estimated $750
million to blanket Arizona's 378 miles of border with technology over
the next three to four years, officials said. But that money will be
spread among several companies, said Customs and Border Protection
Commissioner Alan Bersin. That's different from the "SBInet" virtual
fence initiative, which had Boeing as the prime contractor.
The new blueprint suggests that officials have learned from past
failures, but many remain skeptical based on the lack of return on
the colossal investments of the past 13 years.
Despite spending about $1 billion from 2005 to 2011, SBInet was
plagued by glitches and delays, and produced only two working systems
covering 53 miles of border in Arizona. In a series of scathing
reports, the Government Accountability Office repeatedly questioned
whether the time and money spent were a prudent use of limited
resources. In January, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
canceled the program.
"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," Bersin
said.
Before SBInet, Homeland Security and its precursors spent $429
million from 1998 to 2005 on border surveillance systems that were
set off by the movement of animals, trains and wind, the department's
office of inspector general reported in 2005.
"Every time a program fails, they change the name," said Robert Lee
Maril, a professor of sociology at East Carolina University who wrote
a book about the previous failures. "They tend to never admit there
are any mistakes but then go on and get additional funding for
programs that didn't work."
The public distrust is understandable, but this program is based on a
mind-set different from the past initiatives, said Mark Borkowski,
assistant commissioner for Technology Innovation and Acquisition at
U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
"This is not an attempt to create something that isn't there,"
Borkowski said. "This is an acknowledgement that there is a lot of
good capability already available to us that the industry has
asserted they could produce tomorrow."
Lessons learned
The virtual fence the Bush administration envisioned in 2005 was
plagued with problems almost from the start.
Tower-mounted cameras have coverage gaps. The radar doesn't work
correctly in bad weather and the towers work only in flat terrain.
The software configured by Boeing was proprietary and unable to
incorporate newer radar and cameras without significant work and
cost, the GAO reported in March.
But perhaps the biggest flaw was the $1 billion price tag. It cost
$164 million to put up the two systems in Arizona, and it was
estimated it would cost about $1.5 million per month, or about $18
million a year, to operate and maintain both, the GAO said.
There are 15 sensor towers with cameras and radar, and 10
communication towers that transmit signals to computers along 53
miles of Arizona's border. One network is along 23 miles flanking
Sasabe and the other along 30 miles near Ajo.
The systems being used are basically stripped-down and "dumbed-down"
versions of the original concept, said Maril, author of "The Fence:
National Security, Public Safety and Illegal Immigration along the
U.S.-Mexico Border."
"That's not much for a billion dollars," Maril said. "Basically now
what they have is fancy cameras on the top of tall towers. We've had
that technology for a very long time."
Customs and Border Protection officials say SBInet didn't leave them
completely empty-handed. The two systems in Arizona will stay up and
serve as the backbone of the new tailored plan here. The towers work
more than 90 percent of the time and provide agents with images and
information they wouldn't otherwise have, officials said.
The GAO backs that, saying in its recent report that the two systems
have helped the Border Patrol since they went up last year.
One key lesson learned from SBInet was not to "develop something that
doesn't exist if you don't have a good reason to do it," Borkowski said.
Homeland Security has decided instead that it wants something
reasonable that can be acquired fairly quickly, he said.
"I'll take 80 percent if I've got it today and I won't waste time
waiting for the other 20 percent," Borkowski said.
Since taking the post in October 2008, Borkowski has met with dozens
of companies and Department of Defense officials to get a sense of
what's already available and what works best. And Napolitano's
reassessment of SBInet included interviews with Border Patrol agents.
The latest approach is the one Border Patrol agents have been
imploring the agency to take since 1998, Maril said.
New system
As usual along the border, Arizona will serve as the lab.
The agency has broken the state into four areas, tailoring unique
plans for each.
The new plan - called the "Alternative (Southwest) Border Technology"
- will include a mix of camera towers, truck-mounted mobile
surveillance systems, night-vision goggles, ground sensors, handheld
equipment for use by Border Patrol agents and towers similar to those
put up in the SBInet virtual fence system. Planes, helicopters and
unmanned aerial systems will also be incorporated.
The new approach can be seen in the plan for Arizona. Instead of 91
sensor towers as planned in SBInet, there will be 67 towers (counting
the 15 already up), and the rest of the terrain will be covered by
the other gear.
Most of the equipment for Arizona is to arrive in the next two years,
with the new version of the sensor towers arriving in 2013-2015.
There will be more sophisticated night-vision goggles and
advancements in the "intelligence surveillance reconnaissance," known
as ISR, with ground-based radar synced up to radar attached to planes
and unmanned aerial systems, 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," Bersin said.
The new plan requires that everything purchased will be under firm,
fixed-priced contracts because the technology is already available,
and thus the price is set.
All will be open competition with the exception of the portable
surveillance systems, to be bought from an existing Army contract,
officials said. These include a tripod-mounted long-range infrared
sensor, tripod-mounted camera, battery and a laptop. They can be
carried by two to four agents into mountainous or remote areas.
Like SBInet, the new program will be closely monitored by the GAO.
The investigative arm of Congress plans a report later this year,
said Richard Stana, director of homeland security issues at the
Government Accountability Office.
The GAO already has expressed concerns about the limited scope of
Homeland Security's six-week analysis of border technology and the
rationale it used to draw up the new plan. A more "robust" analysis
could have led to a different plan, the GAO said.
"For a program of this importance and cost, the process used to
assess and select technology needs to be transparent," the GAO wrote.
"The uncertainties noted above raise questions about the decisions
that informed the budget formulation process."
The agency appears to be making better decisions now, said Maril. But
he said he's not ready to declare the new strategy a success, partly
because, while the leaders in DHS are new, the agency's inability to
manage major contracts is systemic.
"Are we going to end up in another four years with another
administration and a new plan, renamed something else?" If so, he
said, "we'll be in the same place we were in 1998."
Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com
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