angela256z
04-02-2008, 03:31 PM
Waivers invoked to finish fence
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004321521_fence02.html
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of 2008, federal officials said Tuesday.
Invoking the two legal waivers, which Congress authorized, will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently impede the Homeland Security Department from building 267 miles of fencing in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about it.
The move is the biggest use of legal waivers since the administration started building the fence, the department said. Previously, the department has used its waiver authority for two portions of fence in Arizona and one portion in San Diego.
"Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. "These waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward."
As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be completed by the end of the year to meet the department's goal. Of those, 267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and regulations, the officials said.
Chertoff had said using the waivers would be a last resort. The department has held more than 100 meetings with lawmakers, environmental groups and residents in an effort to work out obstacles and objections to fence construction.
The department will conduct environmental assessments when necessary. But the waivers enable the department to start building before completing the assessments. Chertoff said the department will continue to ask for input on the construction plans.
Residents and property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border have complained about the fence construction. In South Texas, land owners refused to give the government access to property along the fence route. The government has since sued more than 50 property owners in South Texas to gain access to the land.
Environmentalists have also complained about the fence because they say it puts already-endangered species such as two types of wild cats — the ocelot and the jaguarundi — in even more danger of extinction. They say the fence would prevent them from swimming across the Rio Grande to mate.
"Unwilling to consult with local communities or to follow long-standing laws, Secretary Chertoff chose to bypass stakeholders and push through this unpopular project on April Fools' Day," Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said in a statement. "We don't think the destruction of the borderlands region is a laughing matter."
Chertoff has said the fence is good for the environment because immigrants degrade the land with trash and human waste when they sneak illegally into the country.
__________________________________________________ _
Boeing's "virtual fence" gets reality check
By Daniel B. Wood
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004321523_border02.html
Thirty-five miles of dusty desert from the nearest highway, it telescopes almost 100 feet in the air, topped with cameras and radar.
Nearby, a security man from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency sits in a dark-colored SUV, watching movies on a laptop. Two giant tanks of water, apparently for wandering migrants, have been placed close at hand by the human-rights group Derechos Humanos.
The tower is one of nine surveillance turrets strung across 28 miles of Arizona border north of Sasabe that are supposed to communicate coordinates and images of moving figures to remote centers and laptops in border-patrol vehicles.
They are part of "Project 28," a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiative meant to test the viability of a "virtual fence" — a high-tech, possibly more effective alternative to the fencing the U.S. is erecting across hundreds of miles of the Southwestern border. The idea that radar towers could help fill in the current gaps in the physical wall, and the technology could even be transported to problem areas at will, appealed to the DHS.
President Bush touted the project in May 2006 as "the most technologically advanced border-security initiative in American history."
The excitement over the possibility of securing the border through all-seeing electronic eyes has ebbed slightly since. Technological snags in the project, which was contracted out to Boeing for $20 million, have raised doubts among some congressional investigators about the workability of the entire venture.
Nevertheless, Homeland Security officials say that despite the hiccups, the project is on track.
A high-tech alternative
At the top of the tower, a rotating radar dish detects moving figures on the border and radios the coordinates to an integrated camera. The camera then focuses in on the targets.
Agents at a remote command post view these images on monitors to determine if the moving figures are human — as opposed to a roadrunner or other desert critter. They then radio the coordinates to laptop computers placed in the cabins of roving Border Patrol cruisers. Ostensibly, the agents then swoop into the designated area and catch the illegal border crosser.
Project 28 is an early test of various new ways to coordinate radar, cameras and on-the-ground apprehension being developed under a broader umbrella known as SBInet — a DHS initiative launched in 2006 to examine technological alternatives to fencing along unspecified stretches of the border.
In early trials from July to December 2007, technical problems and other snafus led to media reports that DHS and Boeing might mothball the project. Problems included software glitches, wind and rain that affected the camera image quality, and radar that had trouble distinguishing sagebrush from camping migrants or animals.
Boeing officials publicly admitted that the effort has been more challenging than they anticipated. The project, which was supposed to be handed over to the Border Patrol in June 2007, was not accepted until December. At a recent congressional hearing, Richard Stana, Homeland Security and Justice Director for the General Accountability Office (GAO), said Project 28 "did not fully meet the user needs."
But DHS officials have moved to dispel the notion that the project was stalled or scrapped. They say the technology is still in use, that it is being tested to improve various designs and capabilities.
It has been responsible for catching more than 2,400 migrants in the desert testing areas, the DHS claims.
DHS withheld part of the $20 million original funding until Boeing made the necessary corrections, according to DHS press secretary Laura Keehner. "After a period of operational testing, additional deficiencies were identified and subsequently corrected to the department's satisfaction," she said.
DHS has requested $775 million next fiscal year to continue to develop and deploy such technology.
Questions from Congress
Some congressional investigators have warned that if they judge the system to be underperforming in their eyes, they may urge ending the project.
Many were not impressed with the shadowy footage taken in late February in which Project 28 cameras tracked three large groups of immigrants crossing the border before relaying the images to a command post in Tucson 70 miles away.
"Project 28 was supposed to be an example of how we could use technology to secure the border. The lesson is we can't secure 28 miles of our border for $20 million," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., House Homeland Security Committee member at a hearing Feb. 27.
Another possible problem, experts say, is that the radar is easily foiled by terrain that isn't flat. And operator training appears to be important if the system is to be effective.
"The radar doesn't give you depth perception, and the same can be said of the cameras, especially at night," says T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents more than 12,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents. "So it's easy for contract employees who are trying to sector in the precise locations to be way off."
Some investigators of the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, have said the initial investment was too paltry to expect significant results and that Boeing was not given enough time to complete the fairly complex project.
The company has also received $64 million for a new contract, Keehner said.
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004321521_fence02.html
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of 2008, federal officials said Tuesday.
Invoking the two legal waivers, which Congress authorized, will cut through bureaucratic red tape and sidestep environmental laws that currently impede the Homeland Security Department from building 267 miles of fencing in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, according to officials familiar with the plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about it.
The move is the biggest use of legal waivers since the administration started building the fence, the department said. Previously, the department has used its waiver authority for two portions of fence in Arizona and one portion in San Diego.
"Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement. "These waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward."
As of March 17, there were 309 miles of fencing in place, leaving 361 to be completed by the end of the year to meet the department's goal. Of those, 267 miles are being held up by federal, state and local laws and regulations, the officials said.
Chertoff had said using the waivers would be a last resort. The department has held more than 100 meetings with lawmakers, environmental groups and residents in an effort to work out obstacles and objections to fence construction.
The department will conduct environmental assessments when necessary. But the waivers enable the department to start building before completing the assessments. Chertoff said the department will continue to ask for input on the construction plans.
Residents and property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border have complained about the fence construction. In South Texas, land owners refused to give the government access to property along the fence route. The government has since sued more than 50 property owners in South Texas to gain access to the land.
Environmentalists have also complained about the fence because they say it puts already-endangered species such as two types of wild cats — the ocelot and the jaguarundi — in even more danger of extinction. They say the fence would prevent them from swimming across the Rio Grande to mate.
"Unwilling to consult with local communities or to follow long-standing laws, Secretary Chertoff chose to bypass stakeholders and push through this unpopular project on April Fools' Day," Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said in a statement. "We don't think the destruction of the borderlands region is a laughing matter."
Chertoff has said the fence is good for the environment because immigrants degrade the land with trash and human waste when they sneak illegally into the country.
__________________________________________________ _
Boeing's "virtual fence" gets reality check
By Daniel B. Wood
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004321523_border02.html
Thirty-five miles of dusty desert from the nearest highway, it telescopes almost 100 feet in the air, topped with cameras and radar.
Nearby, a security man from the Pinkerton National Detective Agency sits in a dark-colored SUV, watching movies on a laptop. Two giant tanks of water, apparently for wandering migrants, have been placed close at hand by the human-rights group Derechos Humanos.
The tower is one of nine surveillance turrets strung across 28 miles of Arizona border north of Sasabe that are supposed to communicate coordinates and images of moving figures to remote centers and laptops in border-patrol vehicles.
They are part of "Project 28," a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiative meant to test the viability of a "virtual fence" — a high-tech, possibly more effective alternative to the fencing the U.S. is erecting across hundreds of miles of the Southwestern border. The idea that radar towers could help fill in the current gaps in the physical wall, and the technology could even be transported to problem areas at will, appealed to the DHS.
President Bush touted the project in May 2006 as "the most technologically advanced border-security initiative in American history."
The excitement over the possibility of securing the border through all-seeing electronic eyes has ebbed slightly since. Technological snags in the project, which was contracted out to Boeing for $20 million, have raised doubts among some congressional investigators about the workability of the entire venture.
Nevertheless, Homeland Security officials say that despite the hiccups, the project is on track.
A high-tech alternative
At the top of the tower, a rotating radar dish detects moving figures on the border and radios the coordinates to an integrated camera. The camera then focuses in on the targets.
Agents at a remote command post view these images on monitors to determine if the moving figures are human — as opposed to a roadrunner or other desert critter. They then radio the coordinates to laptop computers placed in the cabins of roving Border Patrol cruisers. Ostensibly, the agents then swoop into the designated area and catch the illegal border crosser.
Project 28 is an early test of various new ways to coordinate radar, cameras and on-the-ground apprehension being developed under a broader umbrella known as SBInet — a DHS initiative launched in 2006 to examine technological alternatives to fencing along unspecified stretches of the border.
In early trials from July to December 2007, technical problems and other snafus led to media reports that DHS and Boeing might mothball the project. Problems included software glitches, wind and rain that affected the camera image quality, and radar that had trouble distinguishing sagebrush from camping migrants or animals.
Boeing officials publicly admitted that the effort has been more challenging than they anticipated. The project, which was supposed to be handed over to the Border Patrol in June 2007, was not accepted until December. At a recent congressional hearing, Richard Stana, Homeland Security and Justice Director for the General Accountability Office (GAO), said Project 28 "did not fully meet the user needs."
But DHS officials have moved to dispel the notion that the project was stalled or scrapped. They say the technology is still in use, that it is being tested to improve various designs and capabilities.
It has been responsible for catching more than 2,400 migrants in the desert testing areas, the DHS claims.
DHS withheld part of the $20 million original funding until Boeing made the necessary corrections, according to DHS press secretary Laura Keehner. "After a period of operational testing, additional deficiencies were identified and subsequently corrected to the department's satisfaction," she said.
DHS has requested $775 million next fiscal year to continue to develop and deploy such technology.
Questions from Congress
Some congressional investigators have warned that if they judge the system to be underperforming in their eyes, they may urge ending the project.
Many were not impressed with the shadowy footage taken in late February in which Project 28 cameras tracked three large groups of immigrants crossing the border before relaying the images to a command post in Tucson 70 miles away.
"Project 28 was supposed to be an example of how we could use technology to secure the border. The lesson is we can't secure 28 miles of our border for $20 million," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., House Homeland Security Committee member at a hearing Feb. 27.
Another possible problem, experts say, is that the radar is easily foiled by terrain that isn't flat. And operator training appears to be important if the system is to be effective.
"The radar doesn't give you depth perception, and the same can be said of the cameras, especially at night," says T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents more than 12,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents. "So it's easy for contract employees who are trying to sector in the precise locations to be way off."
Some investigators of the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, have said the initial investment was too paltry to expect significant results and that Boeing was not given enough time to complete the fairly complex project.
The company has also received $64 million for a new contract, Keehner said.