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| Homeland Security Axes Bush-Era 'Virtual Fence' Project |
| 2011-01-14 |
| The project, called "Virtual Fence," was rolled out under the Bush administration in 2006 with much fanfare about how technology could help secure the border. Illegal immigrants crossing the border would be detected by a radar and picked up by remote cameras, which were monitored by border patrol agents. Another $1B boondoggle. But numerous internal and Congressional reviews found consistent performance problems with the project's systems, which only spanned 53 miles of the vast U.S.-Mexico border. I wonder how many millions of dollars it cost to figure this out. The new plan "will utilize existing, proven technology tailored to the distinct terrain and population density of each border region, including commercially available Mobile Surveillance Systems, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, thermal imaging devices, and tower-based Remote Video Surveillance Systems." Napolitano added. Welcome to the Obean administrations new, improved boondoggle. Gorb's solution: Build a fence. Build another one in parallel. Shoot anything that moves in between. And under. A fence doesn't need to be high-tech. All it does is slow down whoever it is you're trying to slow down until you get your people on the scene. If you don't do the latter it doesn't matter how high, tall, wide, deep or high-tech the fence is. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #12 How man YEARS did that idiot Bush waste with this? We could have ha a real fence all the way to the Gulf by now. Mission accomplished. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-01-14 23:53 |
| #11 So we're gonna go with the real, physical fence? Yeah I didn't think so. |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2011-01-14 23:51 |
| #10 not tumbleweeds. Cholla, aka "jumping cactus". It was invented by the devil himself, and when he had a hangover. Improvement accepted, Anonymoose. One of these days I'll get to that part of the world, and properly learn the native flora. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-01-14 23:08 |
| #9 How man YEARS did that idiot Bush waste with this? We could have ha a real fence all the way to the Gulf by now. Bush is no idiot. Bottom line, he wants a porous border. The best way to do this was to spend the most amount of money possible on the least effective system. He succeeded, in spades. Now he can point to this failed project as just another sign that the border cannot be sealed. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-01-14 22:18 |
| #8 How man YEARS did that idiot Bush waste with this? We could have ha a real fence all the way to the Gulf by now. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-01-14 21:37 |
| #7 Gee, who didn't see this coming? |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2011-01-14 21:20 |
| #6 a triple fence in the San Diego sector has done wonders. It's costly, but so is the influx damage. In very rough terrain, no need for it - use UAVs, IR, and collection crews |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-14 21:02 |
| #5 This thing has been a mess from the start. Not because the technology is difficult, but because it is politically radioactive. The sensor part of the problem is easy. The hard part is deciding what to do with the information. Further, if the politicians are unwilling to answer that question, then actually getting the sensors in place just provides information that em-bare-asses them. So, they sabotage the whole acquisition and blame the contractor. |
| Posted by: rammer 2011-01-14 20:41 |
| #4 tw: not tumbleweeds. Cholla, aka "jumping cactus". It was invented by the devil himself, and when he had a hangover. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-14 19:46 |
| #3 I still vote for planting tumbleweed between the fences. I've heard that's very effective for slowing people down, and the screams of pain are almost as good as thermal imaging for locating intruders... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-01-14 18:34 |
| #2 In other words she's going to make it so confusing that nobody will know if border security is going up or being torn down.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-01-14 18:31 |
| #1 Subcontract out to the 'former' East Germans. They knew how to keep people in. Shouldn't be hard to make it to keep people out. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-14 18:17 |