The House Appropriations Committee this week approved a $39.1 billion budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in FY ’13, including fully funding the $327.1 million request for border security technology and infrastructure although the panel cautions that relatively new technology efforts to provide surveillance assets on the nation’s southwestern border are already behind schedule.
In January 2011 DHS canceled the previous border security technology program, called the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet), and directed a more flexible approach to technology deployments on the border. The new plan calls for radar and camera equipped Integrated Fixed Towers (IFTs), which are essentially what SBInet consisted of, more camera-based Remote Video Surveillance Systems, more mobile surveillance towers, and man-packable sensor systems, and unmanned aircraft systems.
In a report on its version of the FY ’13 spending bill for DHS, the House appropriators want Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess the deployment of fixed versus mobile surveillance systems for border security.
“Such an assessment is valuable given the flexibility associated with mobile assets, including airborne assets, the continual improvements in available technologies, the long lead time for deploying fixed capabilities, and intelligence associated with how adversaries adapt to avoid fixed assets,” the committee says in the report.
The deployments of the IFTs and RVSS systems were expected to begin relatively quickly, but it was just this year when CBP issued Requests for Proposals (RFP) related to these efforts.
Despite the recent release of the RFPs, “the deployment of these capabilities is not realistically completed before fiscal years 2014 and 2015,” the report says. “Compounding CBP’s failures and delays, many of the technologies have not met CBP expectations in terms of being adequately ruggedized for the Border Patrol environment and functioning as promised from the start.”
Moreover, much of the funding under the Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology account remains unobligated, $732.8 million, according to the committee. Of the unobligated funds, $117 million are for the IFT program. CBP is seeking $138.8 million in FY ’13 for technology for the southwest border, including $92 million for the IFT effort.
Given the large amount of unspent monies for the IFT effort, the long-lead time for the deployment of the systems, and that only one system will be completed before FY ’14 and two others won’t begin deploying until FY ’14, the appropriators suggest that $40.4 million of the unobligated funds be rescinded and shifted to CBP’s Air and Marine Office to support an increase in proposed flight hours.
“These funds will provide immediate border security operational benefit while enabling CBP to maintain its IFT investments and deployments as currently planned,” the report says.
The committee says that getting the fixed technology surveillance assets deployed is the “last major investment” needed by the Border Patrol to fulfill its mission.
“The Committee will not tolerate additional delays attributed to mere bureaucratic causes,” the report warns.