By Julia Preston The New York Times
Published: 03-05-08
A top Homeland Security Department official said last week 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.” 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 2000-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.
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.
