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Title: Officials Split on Viability of Border-Fence Project
Source:
New York times
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/w ... n/29fence.html?ref=todayspaper
Published: Mar 10, 2008
Author: JULIA PRESTON
Post Date: 2008-03-10 00:25:33 by richard9151
Keywords: None
Views: 219
Comments: 2
Published: February 29, 2008 A top Homeland Security Department official said Thursday that a pilot project to create a virtual fence along parts of the Mexican border had been a success, but he said the technology was never intended to be used — and would not be used — across the entire length of the border. “It is working, and it met the requirements,” Jayson P. Ahern, deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said of the pilot project during a briefing with reporters in Washington. Mr. Ahern’s assessment was in line with an announcement last Friday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff but contradicted testimony on Wednesday by an official from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan watchdog arm of Congress. The official, Richard M. Stana, who handles domestic security and justice issues for the accountability office, told a House subcommittee that the pilot project had “resulted in a product that did not fully meet user needs.” He also said “the project’s design will not be used as the basis” for future development of a virtual fence along the border because of the problems. The conflicting accounts about the pilot project and its applicability elsewhere add to the confusion and debate that has surrounded the virtual fence almost since its inception. The project is known as P-28, for the length in miles of Arizona border where it has been installed. The equipment includes ground sensors and 90-foot mobile towers mounted with cameras and radar that communicate images to laptops inside Border Patrol vehicles and to command centers. Last Friday, Mr. Chertoff announced that his agency was satisfied with the $20.6 million project, despite some early “defects,” and had given final acceptance of it to the Boeing Company, its developer. He indicated the department intended to use the technology at other locations, though far short of the entire 2,000-mile border. But in his statement to the House subcommittee, Mr. Stana said the department projected new delays in expanding the use of the technology. Some version of the virtual fence would be put into use along additional areas near Tucson by the end of this year, Mr. Stana said, and it would be extended to remaining areas of the Tucson border and to Yuma, Ariz., and El Paso, Tex., by 2011. As recently as October, Homeland Security Department officials said all the P-28 technology would be in use by the end of this year. After a series of high-profile failures during the P-28 tests, which began in June 2007, department officials told investigators for the Government Accountability Office that they hoped to develop the newer phases of the technology “right, not fast,” Mr. Stana said Wednesday. Early in the testing last year, the original software Boeing used did not relay images from cameras and radar. For a time the system failed when it rained. Border Patrol agents were not consulted by Boeing in the early phases of the P-28 project. “That should never have happened,” Representative Christopher Carney, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is chairman of the subcommittee, said Thursday. He disputed the Homeland Security officials’ assessment of the pilot project’s success. “It did not work,” Mr. Carney said. “It was sold as a force multiplier. It was going to have images so accurate it could distinguish between a coyote and a deer and a blowing bush. Well, guess what: it has not done that.” Mr. Carney said that when he visited the Tucson border in January, the P-28 cameras went out of focus when they spotted a group of illegal crossers, causing Border Patrol agents to lose track of them. Boeing gave the Department of Homeland Security a $2.2 million credit on the original contract because of delays in the pilot project. Since August, Boeing has received two new contracts to further develop the virtual fence, for a total of $133 million. Mr. Ahern said Thursday that border officials always expected that they would have to get new software and equipment to expand the pilot project. Lakiesha R. Carr contributed reporting from Washington. But hey!! It sounds good, and as long as the sheeple think we is doing 'something,' well, they won't pay attention to what is really going on with immigration, so whatever it costs or how it works, it damn well is worth it!!
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#1. To: richard9151 (#0)
Riiigggght. I get it. Offer 'them' jobs, under the rader, of course, and offer them benefits, again, as long as it is under the radar (can't have too many of the sheeple know what is going on!), and then make a show out of killing a few of them as they come to accept what is offered. As long as nothing interferes with 'business as usual.' After all, there are a lot of 'them' so it ain't like we will run out of poor looking for work or a handout; and killing a few won't slow the process down much. Just keep the show going.
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest. Attention, Shrub; A life of evil is ultimately a life of wretchedness.
Vote Republicrat or Democin, it doesn't matter, you still get McHillobama
#2. To: farmfriend (#1)
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