Border securityProblems-plagued border sensor program put on hold by CBP

DHS plan to install sophisticated ground sensors along the U.S.-Mexico border has been put on hold. The program has been plagued with various problems from the start, including  bandwidth and frequency issues..

CBP made the announcement on 7 February, and the announcement gives the impression that the program was cancelled, not merely postponed. Jenny Burke, a public affairs officer with CBP, told Danger Room, however, that the program has not been cancelled, but delayed for 2013. “We’ve determined that we need to resolve issues with saturated radio frequencies, limited bandwidth and system integration with the existing CBP infrastructure,” she told Danger Room, saying that CBP will try to replace the malfunctioning sensors “within the next six to nine months.”

 The Los Angeles Times reported that the sensors had trouble distinguishing humans from animals or environmental activities such as falling rocks and strong wind. They also had  a  high rate of false alarms. A 2005 report from the DHS Inspector General found only four percent of signals was caused by people illegally crossing the border. Thirty-four percent of signals were false alarms, and 62 percent of signals were of unknown origins.

The delay of the sensor program is reminiscent of the delays, then cancellation, of SBInet, the ambitious Bush-era project to install advanced sensing technology along the border. The project was cancelled two years ago after more than $1 billion were spent on a few towers equipped with sensors which were built along a 28-mile stretch and the Arizona-Mexico border.