$850 million later, high-tech border fence a failure
The Obama administration has decided to abandon construction of a high-tech “virtual fence” along the Mexico-U.S. border, proclaiming it an expensive failure.
Just as most people expected it to be.
When the so-called Secure Border Initiative was announced back in 2006, President Bush called it “the most technologically advanced border security initiative in American history.”
“The American people are rightfully insistent on the fact that we solve this 30-year-old problem,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. “And this is about a solution which we believe is going to do the job.”
Even at the time, though, most of those paying attention understood the project to be a purely political gesture by the Bush administration, which was eager to tamp down criticism of its immigration policy.
”We’ve been presented with expensive proposals for elaborate border technology that eventually have proven to be ineffective and wasteful,” U.S. Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Kentucky, warned in one 2006 congressional hearing. ”How is the SBI not just another three-letter acronym for failure?”
Eight hundred and fifty million dollars later, Rogers and others have been proved right. Last week, the Governmental Accountability Office released a scathing report on the 53-mile fence project and the performance of its lead contractor. Boeing. The report was the latest in a series of GAO reports dating back to 2007 that pointed out what investigators call “its well-chronicled history of not delivering promised capabilities and benefits on time and within budget.”
“Although some of the individual components perform acceptably, SBInet has failed to deliver on the promise of an integrated system that detects and simultaneously identifies intruders, and then quickly and accurately directs resources to intercept them,” said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
“This is due to unrealistic expectations about the capabilities of current technology, as well as a flawed underlying concept. In their quest to automate border security, the system’s proponents appear to have lost sight of the fact that surveillance technology is incapable of apprehending anything; well-trained and highly-skilled law enforcement officers are necessary to accomplish that task.”
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454 comments Add your comment
Slightly Well Read for someone my Age, etc.
October 25th, 2010
9:17 pm
I would say that the label would apply to those who bluster as if they know everything and are always right no matter what. Those are usually the ones who only see half the story. Most people recognize their shortcomings and do not try to pass themselves off as a subject matter expert on things which they know little about.
Then I choose to be labeled as fractionally-educated for it is beginning to sound like a half-educated person might also be known as an uppity person and no one could possibly want that for a label. With that, I bid you a “Good Evening”.
DawgDad
October 25th, 2010
9:18 pm
By the way, there are two sides to an issue only as long as there are only two people arguing the issue.
josef nix
October 25th, 2010
9:19 pm
@@
Estoy de acuerdo…es una broma! Reminding the latinos that change takes time? Unh-hunh, sure, well on my special interest issue, he’s run out of time…
josef nix
October 25th, 2010
9:21 pm
Slightly…
I beg to differ! I wear the term uppity with pride!
DawgDad
Unless those two people are Jews…then, there’s five sides!
Del
October 25th, 2010
9:23 pm
Now another Democrat coming out against the “One”. This time telling him to “shove it”. Oh the crying and gnashing of teeth is getting louder and louder.
Soothsayer
October 25th, 2010
9:25 pm
DawgDad: That reminds of the story about the town that only had one lawyer. The poor guy nearly starved to death. Then, one day another lawyer moved to town and they both had more work than they knew what to do with!
Southern Comfort
October 25th, 2010
9:25 pm
there has to be apprehension and law enforcement. Bush and Obama are both on the same side of this issue, advocating unchecked illegal immigration
I’m guessing that you’re discounting the uptick in removals last year, correct?
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 25th, 2010
9:26 pm
Are the uppity going to be the next downtrodden group du jour?
Vinny
October 25th, 2010
9:28 pm
Obama is a failure as well. He should to be abandoned
josef nix
October 25th, 2010
9:30 pm
Hillbilly
Uppity people of the world unite! Fighr back and smash the plebian oppressors!
And on that note, I shall leave for the p.m. Another day from h3ll on the agenda for the morrow…
@@
October 25th, 2010
9:35 pm
Part of the American myth is that people who are handed the skin of a dead sheep at graduating time think that it will keep their minds alive forever.–John Mason Brown
Booyah!!!!!!
G’nite.
Southern Comfort
October 25th, 2010
9:36 pm
Time to cash in the chips….
Play nice with each other. Later!!!!!
AmVet
October 25th, 2010
9:44 pm
No, the Dems do not have a Purity Tests to prove their unswavering and unthinking loyalty.
Nor nearly as much lockstep voting across the board.
And though they try their damnedest to be Republican-lites, they have never mastered the art of getting every single one of their apparatchiks to display the fealty to the party apparatus that the GOP has.
It just isn’t part and parcel of the non neo-con milieu.
The cons simply do not tend to be independent thinkers.
And consequently they have the kind of party first allegiance that makes even the mafia jealous…
Don't Forget
October 25th, 2010
10:26 pm
Del
October 25th, 2010
9:23 pm
Now another Democrat coming out against the “One”. This time telling him to “shove it”. Oh the crying and gnashing of teeth is getting louder and louder.
Not quite the full story there Del. From Fox nation:
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio is livid after the Providence Journal reported Monday morning President Obama would not endorse Caprio during his visit to the state today.
“He can take his endorsement and really shove it”, Caprio told John Depetro and the WPRO morning news. Caprio told WPRO he did not seek the President’s endorsement and calls the snub Washington politics.
Thank you though for providing an excellent example of being “half educated”.
Mick
October 25th, 2010
10:29 pm
If the cons do get back to power than the US will get its just deserts once and for all. I didn’t hear any dems talk about 2nd amendment remedies when al gore won the popular vote and got cheated out of florida? The cons steamrolled us into war and cut loose almost every federal regulation be it oil, banking, and real estate. So, ruin the economy then blame the dems, the party of hesitation. Now with obama as president those pesky militias are back, along with the crazy radio/tv personalities demonizing him 24/7. Yes, let them back in to finish the job. Just like the war in iraq, you knew it was coming – the obvious bad move; giving the house or congress back to the repubs will easily set us back another two years…or more.
Slightlywellusedblowupdoll
October 25th, 2010
10:31 pm
Thank you though for providing an excellent example of being “half educated”.
Education / Del = oxymoron. Esp. the moron part…………..
ld
October 25th, 2010
10:46 pm
You want to stem and reverse the tide of illegals, enact and enforce laws putting severe civil and criminal penalty on employers that hire them and put an end to free services of all kinds for them. Their country’s problems cannot be solved if those that want to live the “American Dream” leave it for THIS part of north america.
getalife
October 25th, 2010
11:01 pm
More corporate welfare .
All we will get from corrupt congress these days.
Scout
October 25th, 2010
11:31 pm
josef nix:
Where is General Pershing when we need him ?
Rex
October 26th, 2010
12:46 am
dig a moat, fill it with all nuisance alligators that are captured in Florida, Georgia, Alabama & LA instead of destroying them….any illegals that manage to survive the moat and still try to enter country are to be shot on site by snipers. End of problem…..
Oh yeah, Jay….you are a damned fool
Scout
October 26th, 2010
12:56 am
192 HOURS !
The Taxman Cometh
October 26th, 2010
3:15 am
Wow…W and the Bamster were both ardent supporters of this unproven and highly skeptical approach to our border security…I guess great minds think alike….
josef nix
October 26th, 2010
7:12 am
Okay, deportation fanatics, do something today. Note the “obvious” Mexicans you see today. Where were they? What were they doing? What were you doing? How much were you being paid to do what you do? How much are they being paid? Would you are anyone you know do their job? Would they are anyone they know do your job?
And while you’re at it, you might want to smile and say “have a nice day…” It doesn’t cost anything and you can have a nice, warm fuzzy feeling. They might go home knowing that not all gringos are unkind and unfriendly, It won’t change the big picture, for sure, but it will bring it down to the individual human being dimension and that, if we think about it, is the place to start.
Oh, well, just my thought on the way out the door to spend a day in Guadalajara del Norte!
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2010
7:21 am
the “obvious” Mexicans
Band name!
seabeau
October 26th, 2010
7:41 am
Of all the Greek city states, only Sparta had no walls. The Spartan Army was its city wall. Where Spartan Tread, Mexican’s Dread .
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2010
7:47 am
“The Spartan Army was its city wall. ”
Yeah! We should emulate Sparta. They had the right idea. We could even take up some of their practices…like abandoning weak or ill-formed babies to die of exposure on the hills outside the city. THAT’s the ticket!
Southern Comfort
October 26th, 2010
7:55 am
Just when you think you’ve seen it all…
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/26/anti.abortion.ads/index.html
CNN) — A disturbingly graphic political ad is airing on local stations in Washington this week — and stations are telling viewers there’s nothing they can do to prevent it.
The ad, calling for an end to abortion, apparently shows bloody and dismembered fetuses, and has been airing over the past few days in the nation’s capital, including during afternoon and early-evening time slots, when children are likely to be watching.
But according to spokespersons for several of the broadcasters, they are required by law to carry the ads unaltered.
There’s a way to get your message across. Airing things like this so that children can and will see it is not one of them. I don’t care what your opinion or feeling is about a subject, you should not be able to pull a stunt like this. This country has sunk to an all time low for sure…
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2010
7:59 am
“Airing things like this so that children can and will see it is not one of them”
And these are people who CLAIM to care about children. yeah, right.
Southern Comfort
October 26th, 2010
8:02 am
They care about them until they take that first breath. Then it’s like loggerhead sea turtles. Every man/woman for themselves.
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2010
8:03 am
“They care about them until they take that first breath.”
Exactly. I’ll say it from now and forever…it’s NOT about the “children”, it’s about having power over women and their decisions.
Southern Comfort
October 26th, 2010
8:09 am
Can’t disagree with that. Can’t disagree at all.
Don't Forget
October 26th, 2010
8:09 am
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2010
8:03 am
“They care about them until they take that first breath.”
Exactly. I’ll say it from now and forever…it’s NOT about the “children”, it’s about having power over women and their decisions.
Actually, I’ve always thought it was about self righteousness and ego maintenance.
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2010
8:10 am
an all time low for sure…
We live in a nation where a popular prime-time TV “news” pundit Bill O’Reilly was allowed to repeatedly refer to a doctor performing legal late-term abortions as “the baby killer.” Until someone actually took this pundit at his word and murdered the doctor in order to prevent the man from killing any more “babies.”
I find that fact far uglier than any stupid “lookie these hacked up fetuses” adverts some half-witted candidate concocted. But that’s just me.
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2010
8:13 am
“Actually, I’ve always thought it was about self righteousness and ego maintenance.”
I think that qualifies as a distinction…without a difference.
Southern Comfort
October 26th, 2010
8:14 am
dB
The totality of the circumstances really perplexes me. The same people who say this is a “Christian nation” are the same ones who pull this crap. I’m no expert in blasphemy, but I believe there will be quite a few disappointed souls on their judgement day.
AmVet
October 26th, 2010
8:17 am
OK, Scout and the gang of faketriots, dupes, rubes, guppies and delusionists believe their prayers are going to be answered in one week.
And if they are right, and they gain majorities in both chambers, perhaps the round ups can begin in earnest. Hopefully with a great deal of violence and bloodshed, right cons?
Perhaps the wholesale destruction of the environment and planet can resume again in earnest.
Perhaps the nearing of the completion of the American plutocracy can continue unimpeded.
In spite of a plethora of reasons to not vote for modern day Joe McCarthys who are stuck in the 1950s, for me there is one issue that is paramount and is the measure by which I grade these men in Washington. And that is their support for the troops. (Or shocking lack thereof)
No, not that mindless slogan that the BushCorp neo-cons and cowardly chickenhawks contrived to justify doing the very opposite, but the real thing – helping active duty members and veterans, in a wide range of issues such as unemployment, homelessness, cutting claims backlogs, Invisible injuries, help for female veterans, streamlining the GI Bill and many others.
And not in the lest bit surprisingly guess who gets failing scores? Predominantly it is the Republican members of congress. Yet their ability to utterly fool the more ignorant in their die-hard base is very effective.
Here is a link to the votes on the major issues affecting GIs and veterans and how each member of congress voted. I encourage you to look at it very closely – even you cons who don’t want to know about the issues affecting members, present and past, of the US military.
For example in Georgia, the grades are as follows:
Kingston – C
Bishop – B
Westmoreland – D
Johnson – A
Lewis – F
Price – D
Linder – D
Marshall – C
Broun – D
Gingrey – C
Barrow – B
Scott – B
Chambliss – D
Isakson – D
If you know a veteran or someone on active duty, remember this information and vote,as I will remove the men who pay lip service to our troops but stab them in the back on most votes…
http://media.iava.org/iava_action/IAVA_Action_2010_Congressional_Report_Card.pdf
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2010
8:17 am
from SoCo’s CNN link…
“Legitimate candidate? They’ve gotta run the ad,” said Howard Kurtz, host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”
Does this mean I can force my local Fox affiliate to run interracial gay porn clips should I become a “legitimate candidate” against, say, some otherwise uncontested school board position, and pay for the political advertising myself?
hmm…
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2010
8:22 am
“Does this mean I can force my local Fox affiliate to run interracial ”
It would be an interesting experiment, wouldn’t it?
Gary Indiana wants me
October 26th, 2010
8:22 am
I am so sick of hearing about that stupid wall and keeping folks out. How do we know that Obamaniac din’t put up that fence to keep us in? How do we know Obama, who’s name reads “Osama” (if’n you’re playing the name game, or using Pig Latin), doesn’t want Christine Odonell to win her seat because he needs a fellow wiccan in his underworldly realm? How do we know? I’ll tell you: We Dont!
Why don’t we just accept that we had no business in Texas and Arizona in the first place. Hello. It were Mexico Proper then. The Mexicans, who invented the breakfast burrito, (which we also stole) should have built a fence to keep the Davy Crocketts and Ronald McDonalds out.
M
Mexico was established with borders, and it was Northern MExico. But no, that weren’t good enough for slave traders, who needed more land for slave owners, so they invaded Mexico with slavery, for which Mexico fought to destroy, as the Northern USA did just a scant generation later in a little thing called the Civil War.
THose who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Those who ignore FDA recommendations about their lunch are doomed to repeat it, too. (main FDA recommendation: no breakfast burritos)
carlosgvv
October 26th, 2010
8:30 am
How is it we can spend billions on two usless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but not be able to secure our own borders? Has anyone in our government noticed the drug wars in Mexico that are getting closer to us every day? Must we wait for a large number of American deaths from these drug wars before we get our troops out of Irag and Afghanistan and put them on the border where they belong?
Southern Comfort
October 26th, 2010
8:31 am
dB
The way they explained the law, I’d say you have a good shot at getting those campaign ads aired.
stands for decibels
October 26th, 2010
8:34 am
How do we know Obama, who’s name reads “Osama” (if’n you’re playing the name game, or using Pig Latin)
Actually in pig latin, it’s “Obamaway” which sounds like something Wayne and Garth would say, and the guy who played Wayne stood next to a guy who said that “George Bush doesn’t like black people”, which indisputably proves Obama is a racist.
Normal
October 26th, 2010
8:37 am
Good Morning all y’all,
AmVet, your 8:17 is very good and very pointed.
I’m just keeping my mouth shut for a while. I want to see what the outcome of Novemer brings and to see if the American people are really that duped. Here in Georgia it’s pretty much a done deal, but in the other races accross the nation, I hope that the voters really wake up. But…if not, I’ll keep my mouth shut until June, 2011 (give ‘em six months to fix everything like they gave Obama), and then I’ll start pointing out things. I do agree that, in the long run, Scout and his ilk are going to be very dissappointed in the end.
Doggone/GA
October 26th, 2010
8:42 am
“before we get our troops out of Irag and Afghanistan and put them on the border where they belong?”
US troops cannot be used for domestic law enforcement. They can only protect our borders from a MILIITARY invasion.
Southern Comfort
October 26th, 2010
8:52 am
Normal
I guess 6 months will be the new standard then.
ken R
October 26th, 2010
8:52 am
Daggone/Ga True, but we can put the National Guard on the border.
Give me a break
October 26th, 2010
8:54 am
Just another example of George Bush and Republican failed policies. The problem with conservatives is they don’t think out problems because they are full of hate and want a fast, easy, costly solution.
Don't Forget
October 26th, 2010
8:56 am
The cheapest and most effective way to deal with this problem is to enforce the law against hiring them.
Daily Pundit » Of Course It Failed! That’s What It Was Designed to Do!
October 26th, 2010
8:58 am
[...] $850 million later, high-tech border fence a failure | Jay Bookman $850 million later, high-tech border fence a failure [...]
Don't Forget
October 26th, 2010
8:58 am
Obama got 6 months???? That’s news to me. I saw a clip on youtube showing Fox calling him a socialist from day 1 through day 50. Wish I could find it now.
Don't Forget
October 26th, 2010
9:00 am
Okay, it was the first 100 days. Here ya go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35eRxxZ-Ar0
zeke
October 26th, 2010
9:46 am
Yes, we have the technology, manpower and money to round them all up, send them back! Those who voluntarily turn themselves in, have no criminal record, have valid job available where they can be taxed appropriately, can pay or their employer pay for their health care, have no drug use or sale problem, and, agree that they have no right to US citizenship except through current rules, can be allowed a “guest worker” permit under the conditions that they must return to their home country every year for 30 to 60 days, and, any children that they have born here are not citizens of the US, but, are citizens of their home country!
Cold Fury » SOLD! American
October 26th, 2010
4:31 pm
[...] Another non-surprise: The Obama administration has decided to abandon construction of a high-tech “virtual fence” along the Mexico-U.S. border, proclaiming it an expensive failure. [...]
pterophylla
October 27th, 2010
10:14 am
The federal stimulus spending has kept a whole lot of people employed, who would otherwise have been jobless, and without taking a dime from taxpayers since the money was borrowed. Time will tell if it was worth it, but it’s foolish to say the stimulus failed now.