Program on border surveillance faces reconfiguration

The Homeland Security secretary plans to reconfigure a major border-surveillance program before rolling it out this year.

Secretary Michael Chertoff told House lawmakers Monday that he would significantly change the America's Shield Initiative. ASI is a network of sensors, cameras, communication and analytic technology along the southern and northern U.S. borders. Chertoff declined to provide details of the changes during his testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee.

However, the secretary said the border security program would incorporate advanced technology to "fit" with the additional border agents that Congress has required in recent measures.

The Senate Appropriations Committee in the spending measure for the Homeland Security Department next year encouraged the department to incorporate "commercial, airborne, off-the-shelf wireless technology," according to the panel's report on the bill.

The House and Senate have passed competing spending measures for the Homeland Security Department in fiscal 2006 and included $51 million for ASI next year. The two chambers are negotiating a compromise measure to send to the president. The program is expected to cost $2.5 billion over the next five years.

"When implemented, ASI will permit the Border Patrol to detect and monitor illegal crossings in remote areas between ports of entry, and help deter and interdict such intrusions," House appropriators said in their committee report on the bill. They added that border agents also should collect and share data with other intelligence agencies, as well as record and document the numbers and types of border intrusions in a historical database for future analysis.

ASI program grew out of a 1998 program initiated by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to place cameras along the borders. The FBI and Homeland Security are investigating alleged misconduct involving a contract for the INS program.

The General Services Administration (GSA), which was responsible for the contract, and L-3 Communications could face criminal charges for wasting tens of millions of dollars, according to recent testimony by the GSA inspector general. L-3's president maintains that his firm delivered what the border control requested.

Alabama Republican Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Homeland Security Management, Integration and Oversight Subcommittee, asked Chertoff on Monday to ensure that ASI does not succumb to similar misbehavior.

Bennie Thompson, ranking Democrat on the full House Homeland Security panel, has criticized the department's decision to expand the INS program and change the name from the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System (ISIS) to ASI. "It's not enough to change the name; we have to change the practices," he said.