Janet Napolitano Cancels Virtual Border Fence Project

(Fox News January 14, 2011) Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Friday that she has cancelled the troubled virtual fence project along the southwest border, proposing a new plan which she claims will better address each region's border security needs.  The decision comes a year after the secretary ordered a review of the project, which was hampered by delays and technological glitches, and froze its funding.  The original plan, known as SBInet, envisioned a system of cameras and sensors which would allow officers to monitor crossings and dispatch Border Patrol agents to catch anyone entering the United States illegally. 

Napolitano claimed her department briefed members of Congress on Friday about the final decision to nix the program "as originall conceived."  She said the DHS will pursue a "new path forward" for security along the 2000-mile southern U.S. border.  The secretary said that while the U.S. cannot provide a "single, integrated border security technology solution," the new plan will use different technologies in different areas.  That could mean a system of surveillance towers in one area and unmanned drones in another.  It could mean thermal imaging in one area and elements of the old SBInet plan in another.  "There is no 'one-size-fits-all" solution to meet our border technology needs, and this new strategy is tailored to the unique needs of each border region, providing faster deployment of technology, better coverage, and a more effective balance between cost and capability," Napolitano said.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-MS), a leading critic of the old virtual fence plan, applauded Napolitano's decision.  "The SBInet program has been a grave and expensive disappointment since its inception," said Thompson, ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.  "I am glad that DHS and (Customs and Border Protection) are finally listening to what we have been saying for years--that the sheer size and variations of our borders show us a one-stop solution has never been best."  The project was first proposed under the George W. Bush administration.  When SBInet was put on hold a year ago, it had cost the government $672 million.  Technical problems, involving the effectiveness of video cameras and other elements, had by that point pushed the project far off the schedule.

I'm glad to see the virtual border fence project cancelled.  The virtual border fence is not what's needed to secure our borders.  The best example of a fence that needs to be built is the fence that was built along San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.  Former Congressman Duncan Hunter was the congressman behind proposing that project.  The border fence at San Diego has greatly reduced the number of illegals crossing America's border from Southern Mexico.  The truth is our politicans don't want to do what is right and that is to replicate that same type of fence across the 2000 miles of the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico.  I do recognize that there may be a few illegals that will find a way to sneak in between the border fence, but the fence in San Diego that Hunter supported has been one of the most effective border fences built as of yet.  Our elected elite have been bought off by corporate and Hispanic interests.  All they're looking for is cheap labor and cheap votes.  What a travesty!  We can't depend on our elected officials to protect our borders.