Monday, February 27, 2006; D03
Northrop Grumman Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. are putting together rival teams to compete for the Homeland Security Department's new contract to set up an integrated network of sensors and cameras along the U.S. northern and southern borders.
The Secure Border Initiative, announced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in November, is expected to be one of the department's largest contracts, with an estimated value of $2 billion, according to market research firm Input Inc. of Reston.
The money would go toward technologies, such as advanced video cameras and heat sensors, that could be mounted on poles and fences or in movable unmanned vehicles. If an intrusion is detected, an alert would sound for Border Patrol units.
The new system will replace the proposed America's Shield Initiative, a less comprehensive program that would have updated cameras and sensors along U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. It also is intended to build on an even older program, the controversial "remote video surveillance" initiative, that began in 1998. That surveillance system has been criticized in recent months.
Although $429 million has been spent to install video surveillance cameras and sensors at U.S. borders, the cameras are not fully coordinated with the sensors, and it is not clear whether the system is increasing border control agents' productivity, according to a recent report from Richard L. Skinner, inspector general at the Homeland Security Department.
The project has been marred by delays, cost overruns and ineffective oversight, as well as numerous false alarms, Skinner found.
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Poster Comment:
To keep them out or us in?