WSJ
WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security Friday pulled the plug on a troubled billion-dollar program to build a high-tech fence along the Arizona border to help fight illegal immigration, a definitive end to a long-moribund project.
By scrapping the controversial SBInet program, DHS will now turn to a mix of proven, existing technology it says will help agents patrol a much bigger chunk of the southwest border at a lower cost.
"SBInet cannot meet its original objective of providing a single, integrated border security technology solution," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a written statement. She said that the new solution, which will include mobile surveillance systems, unmanned aircraft, and thermal imaging devices, "is tailored to the unique needs of each border region" and will provide a "more effective balance between cost and capability."
DHS has spent the past year reviewing the program, initially conceived in 2005, but which has since been plagued by technology problems, cost overruns, and delays. Only 53 miles of the Arizona border have been protected with SBInet technology at a cost of nearly $1 billion. In contrast, the new plan envisions covering the rest of the Arizona border—some 323 miles—at a cost of roughly $750 million.
(More here.)
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