Government Scraps $20M “Virtual Fence” Prototype

A $20 million prototype of a “virtual fence” along the Arizona-Mexico border has been scrapped because officials say the system is inadequate.

Two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced approval for the fence, officials report that the fence, built by The Boeing Co., is failing to alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings.

The virtual fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers placed along a 28-mile stretch of border just southwest of Tucson. Boeing plans to replace the prototype fence with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, cameras and radar capability.

While the virtual fence is still in operation, officials report it hasn’t come close to meeting the expectations of Border Patrol guards. The prototype’s main shortcoming was the time lag between the electronic detection of movement along the border and the transmission of a camera image to agents patrolling the area.

Since the agents began using the virtual fence, more than 3,000 illegal immigrants have been apprehended attempting the cross the border. Officials say that’s only a fraction of those believed to cross the border daily southwest of Tucson.

The virtual fence is part of a national plan to use physical barriers and high-tech detection capabilities to secure the Mexican border – and eventually the Canadian boundary.