Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that she will immediately redeploy $50 million of Recovery Act (stimulus) funding originally allocated for the SBInet.
SBInet is a program initiated in 2006 for a new integrated system of personnel, infrastructure, technology, and rapid response to secure the northern and southern land borders. It is part of Secure Border Initiative (SBI), an overarching program of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to organize the four operating components of border security: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the United States Coast Guard.
In August 2008, DHS ordered Boeing to stop SBI work along the border between Arizona and Mexico because CBP had not received the necessary permissions from the Department of the Interior. Boeing told a subcontractor that the suspension of work could last until January 1, 2009.
On January 22, 2010, Napolitano ordered a reassessment of the $8 billion SBInet virtual border fence program in Arizona after another round of delays in the program.
SBInet is an electronic surveillance system composed of cameras, radars and other sensors strung on towers and coordinated with other sensor systems, communications and command and control networks. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently has been deploying a 23-mile segment of the system near Tucson, Ariz.
In announcing the transfer of funds, Napolitano said, “Not only do we have an obligation to secure our borders, we have a responsibility to do so in the most cost effective way possible. The system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border known as SBInet has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines."
She added, "Additionally, we are freezing all SBInet funding beyond SBInet Block 1’s initial deployment to the Tucson and Ajo regions until the assessment I ordered in January is completed.”
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