Lawmakers wary as Secure Border Initiative nears launch
First phase of program slated to become operational on June 13.
House lawmakers on Thursday questioned how the Homeland Security Department's massive Secure Border Initiative program will operate, especially if Congress passes an immigration bill that encourages a huge influx of illegal immigrants into the country.
House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said during a hearing that the first phase of the program, dubbed SBInet, will become operational on June 13. He said on that date Congress will begin to discern whether the program is worth its cost.
House Homeland Security Border Subcommittee ranking member Mark Souder, R-Ind., said the department estimates that SBInet will cost about $8 billion through 2013. But he questioned whether that cost estimate is accurate and whether the department has a plan for maintaining equipment and technology beyond 2013.
Souder also predicted that illegal immigration will increase if Congress passes an immigration reform bill that is perceived as granting "amnesty" to people in the country illegally.
"The stakes are high in the mission to secure our borders," he said.
The immigration bill now being considered by the Senate does not acknowledge that it will take until 2013 to secure the borders, Souder said. He added that some border security programs are undeveloped or underfunded, such as a system to verify if foreigners have overstayed their visas.
"We're charging ahead with bills here pretending like these things are funded," he said.
Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar and Gregory Giddens, the SBI program's executive director, tried to offer lawmakers assurances at the hearing that SBInet will be successful.
"Although specific packages will vary, the vision under SBInet is to move towards a system that makes use of mobile data and communications systems and common operating picture technologies that provide real-time situational awareness," Aguilar and Giddens said in written testimony.
"SBInet plans to install radar, unmanned aircraft systems, ground surveillance radar, sensors, and camera towers to track the movement of people, vehicles, or boats."
The first part of SBInet is a 28-mile stretch of border in Arizona, dubbed Project 28. The centerpiece of that effort is the deployment of nine mobile towers with cameras and sensors, Aguilar and Giddens said.
The towers include broadband wireless transmission capability and can be operated remotely, they added. Additionally, 50 patrol vehicles have been upgraded with rugged, secure laptop computers that can display common operating picture data.
Project 28 will also provide 70 satellite phones to improve communications with the patrol vehicles, they said.
"Command-and-control centers will have a global view of the sector, and they will be able to zoom in on specific locations via cameras to inform agents of an illegal entry, the number of persons involved in the incursion, their location, and the number and locations of agents within the area that can respond," Aguilar and Giddens said.
"For example, agents with a mobile data terminal in their vehicle will be able to receive an alert when sensors are triggered," they added. "The device will then download a live picture of the area from a camera mounted on towers."
In February, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general and GAO expressed concerns to Congress that the whole SBI program, which the IG said could ultimately cost as much as $30 billion, has high risks.
"Our main concern about SBInet is that DHS is embarking on this multibillion-dollar acquisition project without having laid the foundation to effectively oversee and assess contractor performance and effectively control cost and schedule," Inspector General Richard Skinner told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
GAO has said the program is too vague in several areas, lacks adequate controls and may be at risk of not being delivered on time and within budget.
House Homeland Security Border Subcommittee Chairman Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., said "there's no doubt that SBInet is a challenging initiative and for that reason we will be watching it closely."