Want a Secure Border? Open up the coffers.

AuthorMagnuson, Stew
PositionTechnology Tomorrow

Watching the recent House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on border technology brought to mind the oft-quoted Yogi Berra axiom: "It's deja vu all over again."

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There sat Mark Borkowski, Customs and Border Protection's assistant commissioner and chief acquisition executive, testifying before the subcommittee on border and maritime security and explaining why the latest program to deploy technology on the Arizona border is behind schedule.

Before him, members of Congress wanted to know why technology--and the billions of taxpayer dollars spent--hasn't stopped illegal migration and drug smuggling in Arizona.

And to be clear, it's Arizona, not the southern border writ large. California, New Mexico and Texas always get the crumbs when it comes to border technology. The idea is to test sensor towers in Arizona, and spread them to the other states after it's a proven technology. There are two problems with that: after 25 years of trying, it hasn't been proven yet, and it will cost billions of dollars to expand it if it ever does.

Borkowski has been at CBP for 10 years now. He was hired in 2006 to clean up the mess known as the Secure Border Initiative and its so-called virtual fence and to replace it with something less expensive and workable. After a decade at CBP, Arizona still doesn't have a proven sensor system that could be expanded to other states.

The latest attempt, the Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan and its Integrated Fixed Towers, won't be fully operational in Arizona until 2020 because of "significant funding shortfalls," GAO reported in May at the hearing. That's a telling statement.

Two series of questions from committee members pointed to a major disconnect between lawmakers and the executive branch, and a good reason as to why a virtual fence may never happen. One came from the chair, Rep. Martha McSally R-Ariz., who came to Congress after serving in the Air Force as a combat pilot. "As I was flying my A-10, I'm actually talking to guys on the ground that are seeing what I'm seeing on my targeting pod, so their situational awareness has increased," she said. She wanted to know why Border Patrol agents didn't have the same kind of common operating picture linking sensors to the boots on the ground.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., wanted to know why tethered blimps carrying sensors that are deployed on the Texas border weren't being more widely used. The blimps are Army surplus items and free to...

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