By Calvin Biesecker
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last Thursday fully accepted the first installment of an integrated electronic border security system that includes a common operating picture for Border Patrol agents responsible for manning a 28-mile stretch of the United States border with Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Friday.
Final acceptance by DHS had been delayed since last summer due to difficulties in integrating the various sensors and creating the common operating picture that is expected to allow border security officials to spot illegal immigration activity and respond quickly. Project 28, as the first installment of the Secure Border Initiative integrated technology (SBInet) installment is known, covers a section of the Border Patrol’s Tucson, Ariz., sector.
Despite the delays in the official handoff of the system from Boeing [BA], which is developing SBInet for DHS, the system has been in operational use.
“I have personally witnessed the value of this system and I have spoken directly to 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,” Chertoff said.
Due to the delays in meeting the original contract delivery milestones, Boeing agreed to a $2 million credit refund to DHS. The original P28 task order was for $20 million but Boeing’s take is now $18 million, DHS said.
Chertoff noted that SBInet is not a “once size fits all” solution for every section of the U.S. border, north and south. He said the P28 model will have to be adjusted depending on the unique requirements of each stretch of border. In some places ground-based radar will be sufficient, he said. Chertoff added that this year DHS plans to add 34 more ground based mobile surveillance systems throughout the border from the current six.
Before DHS and Customs and Border Protection decide which stretch of border Boeing will have to address next under SBInet, the company is expected to make some spiral upgrades to P28, including going from the current eight mobile sensor towers to fixed sites. Moreover, companies that believe they have technological solutions, such as imaging sensors, that could improve on the current P28 system, will have their technology examined at Boeing’s system integration laboratory in Huntsville, Ala., as possible upgrades to P28 in the coming months.
In addition to the integrated electronic fencing, DHS is in the process of installing physical fencing along the southwest U.S. border. So far, 302 miles of vehicle and pedestrian fencing has been installed and by the end of this year that will stretch to 670 miles, Chertoff said.
DHS is also buying additional General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to help patrol the borders, Chertoff said. Right now, CBP has three of the air vehicles with plans to buy three more.